We're the Juniors
by notUnique.justWeird
Summary: In which Clint is a Deaf orphan, Tony has heart issues, Bruce is struggling with a multiple personality, Natasha is being abused, Thor is autistic, and Steve, Steve is just a mess. An Avenger's high school story where everyone is (at least) a little broken, and that isn't ever really going to change. But when was that ever really a surprise?
1. First Day

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

Clint guessing what a word is, (insert word here?)

missing word, ... (three dots per word)

* * *

Clint woke up that morning to the vibrating of his pillow. He slowly got up and went to take a shower. After a quick shower he grabbed his hearing aids and walked over to one of the other beds to wake up Lucas. Lucas had just arrived the week before, so Clint decided he would get the first, technically second, shower of the day.

"Hey Lucas, time to get up," Clint said as he shook him awake.

"What … … morning (alright?)," he said with a huge yawn.

"Ya, you get first shower today," Clint told him. Lucas looked at him in confusion.

Clint tried to enunciate more, he knew that he got caught on the "s" a lot, "First shower."

Lucas nodded his head in understanding and got out of bed, he knew if he didn't someone else would get his place.

"Wake up Mark after you get out," Clint reminded him as he entered the bathroom. Clint then left him and headed down the hall to the next room. This room was for the younger boys. He opened the door and walked. As he approached the first bed, he leaned down to wake Kyan.

"Kyan, time to get up, you get first shower today." His tiny eyes flickered open as he yawned."

"Do I … … go … school," the boy whined, "It's … first (date?), … … skip, … not … … … to … … important today." Clint missed over half of that, but he assumed from what he got the boy didn't want to go to school, he never did.

" _Yes you have to_ ," he signed and spoke.

 _Why_ , the boy signed. Kyan had been here for a while and knew some of the simpler signs.

"It's the first day, everyone else would already know where everything is, also, dropping out is not an option in our situation if you want to get somewhere in life. If you want a job you have to work for it," Clint answered. Kyan finally gave in and got up to take his shower. Clint left and walked to the stairs, where he slid down the rail to the first floor.

Ms. Heim saw him and proceeded to scold him, "How … … do I … … tell you, … … ... the (road?), … could … your(shelf?)." He must have had a look of confusion on his faces because her next words were two that he could recognize easily.

"… … … hearing aids," she told him. He realized that why he did indeed grabbed them that morning; he had not yet put them in. He did so and she spoke again.

"I said, don't (f?)lide … the rail, you (would?) hurt yourself."

"Okay, sorry," he apologized. They both knew he wasn't sorry and that he would keep doing it. They entered the kitchen, and as Ms. Heim made toast, Clint poured the rest of the kids a glass of water each and sliced some apple. Soon after Lucas came down and started to set the table. Both Kyan and Mark arrived soon after and started to help him. Clint was glad for the help because Ms. Heim's home for boys had eleven kids in it and making meals for all of them was always a pain. Eventually the table was set, the food was ready, and all the boys were present, so they dug in.

When everyone had finished their breakfast, the boys in between the 10 and 13 walked to the bus stop. Clint took the younger ones to their stop, and when the bus arrived he gave them all a rushed goodbye and ran to his bus stop. The bus arrived just as he got there and he got on, showing the bus driver his bus pass and chose an empty seat. He watched the scenery go by as the bus traveled on, and three stops later, a girl with bright red hair stepped on. She sat on the empty seat next to him and started to sign to him.

 _You ready_ , she signed.

He signed back a, _yes_.

 _Did you get Coulson again_? she asked hopeful. Coulson was his interpreter last year after McGarrett, who sucked, was fired at the end of his freshman year.

 _Ya, thank god, Coulson rocks_ , he signed back enthusiastically. They both liked Coulson a lot, and were more friends than students and interpreter. After that the just signed back and forth talking about various things until they arrived at school.

When they did arrive, Natasha left to get their schedules as Clint headed to the office to meet Coulson. The walk wasn't very long, so Clint quickly reached the office and met up with Coulson.

" _How was your summer_ ," he signed and spoke.

Clint replied with a quick, _good_ , and they carried on walking to the tree that Clint always met up with his friends at.

The tree came into view and they walked the rest of the short distance to reach it. Tony was already there fiddling with something, and Bruce was reading a book.

" _Hey Birdbrain, Agent_ ," Tony spoke and signed. There was no actual sign for the word birdbrain, so Tony had taken to mashing the two together and declaring it as birdbrain. It was the first sign he learned.

 _Hi, are Steve and Thor not here yet,_ he signed with practiced ease.

" _Hey slow down, we're still learning,"_ Tony spoke and signed much slower.

" _Sorry, just wondering where Steve and Thor are_ ," he signed slowly and spoke to for added bonus. At around that time Natasha came over and sat down on the grass.

" _They're coming just grabbing their schedules_ ," she replied. She then handed Clint his schedule which he looked at, and then handed to Coulson so he had a chance to figure where the two of them would be going for the year. He looked at it and then handed it back.

" _You have science first,"_ he teased.

" _I know, don't remind me,"_ he groaned. He then felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to face the other way. He realized it was Natasha, and that Thor and Steve had arrived.

" _Hey guys_ ," Clint signed and spoke. The two said hello and the group conversed for a while. Suddenly everyone was standing up and Coulson was getting his attention.

 _First bell, time to go_ , he signed. Clint said good bye to all of his friends with plans to meet up at break if they didn't see each other before then, and headed off with Coulson to science with Mr. Decker.


	2. The Rules and Snack

Here is chapter two, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

Clint guessing what a word is, (insert word here?)

missing word, ... (three dots per word)

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs)

* * *

Clint shuffled into his science class and stood in the back of the room where he noticed the rest of his classmates were gathered. Coulson went over to talk to his teacher and remind him that yes, this class did have a Deaf student, and yes, Coulson would be staying to interpret the classes for the rest of the year. A classmate poked him and he turned to look.

"What's … name, I'm … … … … … you look(to?) (dice?), sorry …. I'm … …, I (kissed?) don't …. ….," the kid spoke. The kid spoke really fast and didn't enunciate well, and even with his hearing aids there was no way he was getting that, so he told the kid.

"Sorry I'm deaf, could you repeat that," he asked. The kid looked at him confused. Great, the kid couldn't understand him and Clint couldn't understand him. He knew he had a deaf accent, but he didn't think it was that bad. Where was Coulson when you needed him.

" _This is Clint, he's deaf and is asking you to repeat yourself_ ," Coulson really was a miracle worker.

"… ..., m… ," said the kid as he left.

 _Sorry, never mind_ , Coulson signed. Coulson was frowning. This actually happened a fair amount, someone would try to speak to Clint and when they found out he was deaf they turned the other way and forgot about him. Clint was fine being Deaf, he didn't want to be hearing, but it just kind of sucked when hearing kids acted like he didn't exist. The teacher then announced they could pick their own seats. The students whopped because students never let them pick their own seats. Lots of kids were teaming up with their friends and sitting at the tables that were set up for pairs. Clint, having no friends in this class sat in the very front corner, it was always the easiest seat for Coulson to interpret for him from, because Coulson wouldn't be blocking anyone's view and Clint could easily see both Coulson and his teacher. Eventually another boy sat next to him and turned to introduce himself.

 _Hi, I'm Foggy. What's your name,_ Coulson signed as the boy, Foggy, spoke.

 _Clint_ , he was replied and Coulson vocalized it for him. He nodded and turned to face the teacher. At least he wasn't a complete jerk like a lot of kids were. He could actually handle sitting next to a kid who didn't know him for once.

The teacher went around handing out papers and started to explain the rules. Clint watched Coulson's hands as the flashed through signs explaining the rules in Clint's language. As he was given a paper, Clint realized it was a syllabus. At the top it explained the rules, and then went to a bullet point list of the curriculum of the year. At the very bottom was a place for him and a parent/ guardian to sign.

The teacher, Mr. Decker, then took role. This was a system Coulson and Clint had worked out last year, Coulson wouldn't sign any of the names, including his and would mark Clint present for him. Clint appreciated it, because he preferred not to speak. The first day was like any other, no actual learning, just explaining the rules. Science was quickly over and he headed to his next class, Social Studies/Geography/History, whatever you wanted to call it.

They arrived at class B17 and stepped instead. Like in science, the kids were hanging in the back, waiting to be seated. He looked around scanning to see if any of his friends were in his class and his eyes landed on Bruce. Coulson quickly told him he was going to speak with the teacher, so Clint headed over to where Bruce was standing.

 _Hey_ , Clint signed.

" _Hi, how was your first c-l-a-s-s_?" Bruce asked.

 _Class_ , Clint signed to show him how it was done.

 _Class, sorry, I forgot that one_ , Bruce signed back, and Clint nodded his head.

 _It was okay, I had science with Mr. Decker_ , Clint told him. Bruce scanned his schedule.

" _I have him after lunch_ ," Bruce said.

 _You will like him, he let us choose our own seats_ , Clint assured him.

" _Cool_ ," Bruce replied. Then Coulson was at his side and Ms. Afton was assigning seats. Bruce left when Ms. Afton called his name and sat at his assigned seat. Clint's was called soon after and he sat at his seat. His table consisted of two girls he didn't know, and the boy from science who found out he was Deaf, and left. Of course this was his luck.

History went a lot like science. The teacher explained the rules, to a lot of giggling, and she got two students to pass out the syllabus. Bruce was one of these students, and when he gave Clint his syllabus he also left him a note. Coulson looked away and pretended not to notice. Again, Coulson was awesome. Clint read the note, meeting spot changed, grassy area behind C building. See u there. He wondered why it had changed, but caught Bruce's eye and just signed a quick okay.

Eventually, the bell rang and the kids streamed out, and he lost sight of Bruce. It was break, so he told Coulson that he would meet him at his 3rd period after break. Since Coulson was his interpreter for his classes, he didn't stay with Clint during break, lunch, or his language elective, which was ASL. He was in AP ASL for obvious reasons, and in the ASL teacher, Mrs. Davis signed and spoke, so he didn't need an interpreter for the class.

He arrived at the new meeting spot and saw he was the first one there. He took off his backpack and laid down, looking at the sky. He knew it wouldn't be long until his friends arrived, and sure enough, he was right.

"Oof," he groaned as a backpack was dropped on his stomach. He then saw a smirking red head looking down at him.

" _Oops, my bad_ ," she said and signed sweetly, knowing that he didn't believe her for a second. He gave her a murderous look and she threw her head back with a laugh.

 _How the hell does your backpack weigh so much already, we don't even have any homework_ , he signed incredulous. She shrugged and took out two apples and threw one at him. He caught it, and they munched on their snack in silence.

Slowly, their friends started to arrive, but Tony was still nowhere to be found. The friends know as the Avengers all frowned at his absence and wondered where he was. They had all seen him this morning. He couldn't have gotten into trouble on the first day could he? The friends thought, but then realized of course he could, he was Tony Stark. Just then he came into view, he had something in his hand. He sat down with the rest of the group and proceeded to explain.

"Sorry … late, I had to … … the office about let… me carry this stuff (a?)…," he said as he shook the container for the rest to see. Clint recognized the container as one of the medications for his "shitty heart" as Tony put it. They all knew this medication was the one Tony had to take three times a day. He had to take a bunch more, but those ones were daily or even weekly. He took one of the pills and took a sip of water to help it go down.

"By the way, all of you, this _Friday you guys are all coming over_ and not _leaving_ till _Sunday afternoon_ ," he said signed some of the words, " _Hawk do you still need p-e-r-m-i-s-s-i-o-n?"_ he asked Clint.

Clint first showed him the sign for permission, and then signed, " _Only for spending the night now, not coming over_." One of the rules at the orphanage was that if you were under the age of sixteen a parent/guardian had to invite you over with a signed note if you wanted to visit friends. If you were older than sixteen, which Clint was, you only needed permission to spend the night. All the kids under twelve couldn't sleep over at all.

" _Okay, I'll get you a note by tomorrow_ ," Tony told him. They sat joking around a bit, teasing the each other about random stuff before they had to go back to class. All of a sudden, his friends stopped.

" _Bell_ ," his friends signed and they all started to grab their stuff and head to their next classes.

* * *

I got a review from a Guest, asking for me to do Clintasha. I admit, I hadn't really thought about any ships when I started this, so I want to hear from you guys, what ships do you want to see? I'm not promising anything, but I would like to know what you guys want to see in this story.

Also, do you want all the chapters featuring Clint as the main character, or should I switch off every once in a while. I would love to hear all of your opinions.

Also, deaf accents do exist, they are just like any other accent. If you are Deaf/HoH or part of the Deaf Culture, please correct me if you see any mistakes. While I have a bit of education in the area, I am not Deaf and am not fluent in sign language. I do know the different types of hearing aids, and Clint has BTEs, which will probably come up later. I know that in the story the sign language is not structured correctly, but I'm doing it this way so it is easier to read. Also, I would love if a Deaf person could come up with some sign names. That would be AWESOME!


	3. Grapes Are a Substitute For Bullets

Here is the third Chapter, please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

Clint guessing what a word is, (insert word here?)

missing word, ... (three dots per word)

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs)

* * *

Clint's third, fourth, and fifth period flew by quickly. First, he had math with Mr. Sitwell. Both Thor and Bruce were in his math class with him. He actually liked math, it came easily to him. It sucked that he got Mr. Sitwell though; he always gave the most homework. He was just glad that he didn't get Mr. Lensherr, who was really strict and hated kids. Clint wasn't sure why he taught math at a high school, which was obviously surrounded by kids, but he did. Well, he thought, it wasn't necessary kids he hated; it was just the nice kids. Somehow, Mr. Lensherr seemed to love the kid know as Sabertooth, the senior who loved to torment the freshmen.

After math, he had his worst period of the day, ELA with Mr. Laufeyson. It wasn't the class he hated, but the teacher. Mr. Laufeyson was the cruelest of teachers, giving out the most detentions and the hardest tests, exams, quizzes, and homework. ELA was going to suck this year. At least he had Steve to keep him company.

His fifth period was Drama 3, one of his two electives, with Ms. May teaching. He had her last year, and she was super awesome. Tons of kids called her The Calvary because she could be grueling at times, and used to serve in the military. Many kids were scared of her. Clint wasn't scared because, he reasoned, she taught drama, were Nat and him the only ones that knew she was acting? Whether they noticed or not, he was glad Tash was in the class with him.

The bell rang in his fifth period class, signaling lunch time. All the kids rushed out quickly, It's not like he expected anything else, this was high school after all. At this time Clint made a self note to set his watch to vibrate when the bell rang so he didn't have the split second of confusion when everyone started to get up and proceeded to stampede the door. It was starting to get annoying.

He, Natasha and Coulson left the classroom and went their separate ways. Well, Coulson went his separate way; Natasha and Clint were going to the same place. Clint and Natasha headed towards the spot where his group of friends met up earlier, making a quick detour to his locker to swap out his binders and grab his P.E. clothes. He would need them for his next class. Natasha, of course, being the prepared one, already had her stuff ready to go.

They kept walking and the C building came into view. They wrapped around the side of it to the grassy spot behind it where they had met for snack earlier that day. Thor, Tony, and Steve were already there, but Bruce had not yet arrived. Natasha and him sat down and began to eat lunch, and in the next five minutes, Bruce had arrived.

Once everyone was present and accounted for, the group began to have some fun. Steve and Natasha were throwing grapes in the air and catching them in their mouths. Natasha was really good at it, while Steve missed 70% of the grapes. Natasha was declared the winner. She decided that to prove her right as winner, she would pelt the rest of the group with the remaining grapes. At the end, everyone was laughing. Steve was laughing so hard that he even had to grab his inhaler to steady out his breathing.

"… what are every(won?) next (few?) classes?" asked Steve once he got his breathing back under control.

" _Math then English_ ," was Tony's response.

" _Math and Science_ ," Steve said.

" _Science and Spanish,"_ Bruce said while sending a grin Clint's way, he remembered what Clint had told him about Mr. Decker.

" _P.E. and ASL_ ," was Clint's response. Natasha let out a chuckle, or at least he assumed it was a chuckle.

" _P.E. and ASL_ ," was Natasha response. Of course they would have three classes in a row together.

" _Science and English_ ," said Thor last.

"Okay, has … … any … … … …?" asked Tony, "… (lie?) … fig… … … … … … (tuck?) … my … … … … … … … ….day, or … (fall?) … … … … …it." Everyone but Clint shook their head and laughed at Tony.

"Sorry, I missed all of that," Clint vocalized. Tony repeated the question, making sure to face him and speak clearly.

"… you get any home work … history…, or was it just me … unlucky," Tony spoke. Tony didn't sign, but again he wasn't fluent and he knew Natasha would help out if needed.

" _Nah, the teachers just love you so much that they just had to give you homework on the first day,"_ Clint teased. Everyone laughed and continued to joke around. At some point the boy's home where Clint lived at came up.

" _We just actually got a new kid a week or two ago, his name is Lucas. Nice kid, he's thirteen."_

" _On the older side then,"_ Natasha said surprised. The group home consisted of mostly younger boys, and Clint was actually the oldest one in their custody. There were two fourteen year- olds, but that was it until you got to Lucas.

" _Ya,"_ he agreed, " _Poor kid, parents died in a plane crash about a year ago. This is his second home, it kind of sucks for him, he's just old enough that he doesn't have a chance really at getting adopted, but hasn't been in the system long enough to understand that."_ If you were older than the ten to twelve range, the chances of being adopted went down to the single digit percentages, and it just lessened as you got older. For him at sixteen, almost seventeen, there was no way he was getting adopted. Even if he was younger, it really wouldn't make a difference, because on his file were the words SPECIAL NEEDS, and below were the words 60% deaf in the right ear, 75% in the left. These were the magic words that made every parent turn away and look into a different kid.

The kids all frowned at his statement, but knew he was right. He after all, was the one who actually lived there. Eventually the bell broke their silence (even though Clint's whole world consisted of silence), and everyone quickly packed up their stuff and collected the grapes lying everywhere before shuffling off to their next classes. Clint and Natasha left together, heading towards the gym where they would meet Coulson for P.E.

* * *

I am going to be out of town for a week, so no updates, sorry. I'll make it up to you guys, the next chapter will set the scene for Clintasha and Science Bros. Also, Stucky might happen later, we'll see. Again I am not Deaf or an orphan, so if you see any mistakes, please tell me! Please review, and tell me what ships you want to see!

I know in comics, Clint is 80%, but that would mean he wouldn't be able to hear individual words, just voices, so I changed that up a bit.


	4. Wrapping Up the First Day

I'm back from my trip, so here is Chapter 4. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

Clint guessing what a word is, (insert word here?)

missing word, ... (three dots per word).

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs).

* * *

The two teenagers along with Coulson entered the gym. Today was the first day, so they would set up their P.E. lockers and get a syllabus, but wouldn't actually dress out or do any exercise until the next day. Setting up his locker didn't take long, so he headed back to the gym to sit in the bleachers until the bell rang. He saw Natasha already waiting and went to sit by her. Coulson just sat nearby, doing paper work.

 _Are we walking the kids home today_? asked Natasha. She was talking about the kids from the orphanage. For the first couple of days, Clint usually walked them to and from the bus stop so that they were more comfortable with the area. He would do this every day, but by the time he got to their bus stop, he had to wait twenty to thirty minutes until they arrived.

 _Ya, after that we don't have to go anywhere. It's the first day, so it's not like anyone needs to go to the library_ , he responded. Clint was the resident older brother/ father figure. He took the little kids to the park, school, the library, and anywhere else they wanted to go within reason. _We might end up at the park later though,_ he told her.

 _That's fine,_ she told him. Mondays and Fridays after school, Natasha came home with him and left at around 5-5:30. She would come the other days, but Clint worked from 4pm-7pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and 2pm-6pm on Sundays.

 _How is everything going at home?_ he asked. She turned to glare at him, knowing that he would make sure she gave him the truth.

 _Tasha, you're wearing a sweatshirt in 90 degree weather, I'm not an idiot_ , he told her gently.

 _I'll show you later_ , she promised him with a sigh. He gave her a look.

 _I swear I will, just, not here,_ she signed softly. About ten years ago she and her dad moved to the United States from Russia, and not a year late Tasha was taken from him. In court it was decided that he was unfit as a father, but if he improved his household, he could get her back. Eight years ago he got her back, not that she wanted to go back, and had been living with him ever since. The two years that her father hadn't been put down as a legal parent/guardian she had stayed at a group home. That was where the two had met. How no else noticed the bruises in the last eight years, he didn't know. Her father wasn't that bad he reminded himself, not as bad as his was. At least if she took her dance classes and obeyed his orders, she didn't get hurt. They sat in silence for a bit longer, both knowing that neither would start a new conversation.

Eventually the bell rang, which seemed to break the spell of silence, and the two, leaving Coulson, headed to AP ASL. The walk wasn't very long, but P.E. was in the gym and ASL was in the D building, which was in the middle of the school, so there was a ton of kids, which made it hard to get to where the needed to be. They got the building, and hugged the wall, which offered some protection from the onslaught of frantic kids trying to get to their next classes. Eventually, they arrived; luckily unharmed, the crowded hallways were very dangerous after all.

The entered the class and were greeted by Mrs. Davis, _"Please take a seat, once everyone is here, I will go through the seating chart, it's nice to see you again, Natasha, Clint,"_ she said to them.

The two of them sat down at two free desks and waited for the bell to ring. Natasha wasted the time by suggesting kids that Steve would willing go out with. She was passing them by Clint to see if anyone of them had a chance. Natasha had started this in the summer when she learned that Steve had never had a long term girl/boyfriend. After about twenty names Clint had had enough.

 _Natasha, not everyone has a relationship like ours, hell even like Bruce and Tony's, just leave him be, he'll find someone eventually_ , Clint reasoned. His and Natasha relationship had been solid since 6th grade, which for kids their age, was a really long time. Bruce and Tony had been dating for a shorter time (almost a year), but that was still a long time for teenagers. Just because Steve hadn't dated for a while didn't mean that Natasha had to set him up on random dates all the time, she was just trying to help, but still.

 _I'm just trying to help_ , she signed, _he's been so lonely since Peggy_. At that he nodded, the loss of Peggy two years ago had really affected him. They mulled in silence for a bit longer until Natasha signed, _bell_.

Clint signed back to her, _I really need to set my watch to vibrate when the bell rings_. She nodded in agreement, and they faced forward to where Mrs. Davis was standing.

" _Ok class_ ," she signed and spoke, " _This is an AP class, which means I ex..."_ Just then a kid burst in panting, and seemed to apologize for being late, and took a seat. Mrs. Davis seemed to let it slide because it was the first day.

" _Okay, back to what I was saying, I expect everyone here to pay attention and to try and succeed, otherwise I have no idea how you got into this class in the first place. You are taking this class by choice after all. Now everyone get up, lets assign seats_." She then went through the seating chart. Natasha's name came before his and she took her seat. When she got to him, he noticed that he had gotten the best view of the teacher's desk and whiteboard, the two places Mrs. Davis would be always be at. He reminded himself to thank her later, knowing she had done so he could actually see her hands.

" _Now it's time for one of the ridicules ice breaker games that somehow seem to work_ ," she announced after everyone was seated. " _When it is your turn, say your name and one interesting thing about yourself. Again, remember this is an AP class and you are expected to sign. I'm Judy Davis and I've been teacher for 17 years_." She passed the ball to a girl.

The ball was passed around, and eventually everyone got a turn. Most people mentioned something about their summer, or a sports/ hobbies that they participated in. The girl behind him had gone swimming with sharks over the summer. He had mentioned his archery, and Natasha had mentioned her knowledge in languages. Most people's fact was quite boring; a couple kids even said the same thing

" _Okay class, now let's go through the syllabus,"_ Mrs. Davis said once everyone had gone. They got half way through the bright orange sheet until everyone was suddenly scrambling, grabbing their bags and their syllabus that they had been reading through just seconds ago. Clint had that split second of confusion again before he realized the bell had rung. Damn it, he really needed to get his watch set. He went to his desk and grabbed his backpack and saw a hand lightly slap the desk twice. Natasha.

 _Ya_ , he signed.

 _Meet me at the tree_ , she said.

He signed a quick, _Ok_ , and grabbed his stuff and headed to his locker.

* * *

For anyone who doesn't know, AP stands for advanced placement, meaning you have to go through separate testing to get in, and have separate, harder end of the year exams on the class.

Like always, I am not an expert, so if you see any mistakes please tell me. Also, like everyone, or I _think_ everyone, I love reviews, so please review! Thank you whoever you are reading/ following/ favoriting/ reviewing this.

Bye for now,

~notUnique.


	5. The Park

Welcome to Chapter 5, this one has a bit more Clintasha in it. I decided to switch of main characters, so this chapter focuses on Natasha, so enjoy and please review! Also, thanks to everyone that has reviewed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

Clint guessing what a word is, (insert word here?)

missing word, ... (three dots per word).

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs).

* * *

Natasha grabbed her binders from her locker, and headed to the tree at the front of the school. She sat down under it and waited for Clint to arrive. She thought about getting a book out to read, but decided against it, knowing Clint would arrive soon, so she stared up at the branches above her. Clint arrived and stared with her for a minute. Eventually they got up, not wanting to miss their bus.

The walk to the bus stop was short, so they sat on the bench and chatted about Drama class. Tomorrow, they were going to start their first project. Students would be put into groups of six and write a script and eventually perform it. The script had to follow certain guidelines that they would get tomorrow. The guidelines for each group would be different to make it more interesting. They discussed what they thought the requirements would be until they got bored.

" _You know, this is our last year we get to be kids_ ," she remarked.

Clint gave her a look and signed, _when were we ever really kids._

" _Okay, okay, I guess we weren't ever really kids, but do you get what I mean?"_

 _Yes_ , he signed. She knew he meant it too, while they still had another year of high school, it would be a crazy year with applying to colleges and figuring everything out. It would be a huge, fast, nerve racking transition stage. Clint seemed to realize how worried she was and leaned over to give her a kiss.

 _We'll get through it_ , he promised

 _Together?_ She asked.

 _Together_ , he agreed, _I wouldn't have it any other way_. She gave him and smile and he kissed her again. They broke apart, but stayed cuddled together for the rest of the bus ride.

When they got to Clint's stop, they both got off and walked to the elementary school's bus stop, and waited for the younger kids. During this time the two played eye spy.

 _Something blue_ , Clint signed.

 _The sky_ , she signed dryly.

 _How could you have possibly guessed,_ he asked her pretending to be shocked.

She shook her head in amusement and went, _something red_.

 _Your hair_ , he signed. She shook her head. He always guessed that first.

 _Stop sign_ , he guessed. She shook her head again.

 _The flowers_.

 _My shoes_.

 _That poster_ , he signed, and she finally nodded. They went back and forth playing the game until the bus came into view.

Nine kids jumped off. Two of the kids were girls and the rest were boys. Six of the seven boys were kids at the orphanage. The two high schoolers rounded up the six younger boys, and they began the walk home.

"How wa' 'cwool?" Clint asked them. There was a chorus of good, most of the boys remembering to turn around to tell him, and one of them even signed it. They boy who had signed fell back to latch onto Clint's arm and tell him about his day. Natasha had looked on in amusement. She remembered that this was Kyan. He never wanted to go to school, but most of the time came home with a smile on his face. She chatted with two of the other boys, Vincenzo and Luke, who were very excited because they ended up getting the same teacher, and got to sit next to each other. The two boys were in second grade, and were very close friends. The boys home came into view, and the group of eight entered the building.

Clint left to grab the kids a snack while Natasha helped put the paper's that needed a signature on Ms. Heim's table of important school info. Clint came back, setting some crackers and apple slices down onto the table and then set his stack of papers with the rest of the kids. The kids quickly ate their snack, and like predicted, begged to go to the park. Clint left to go tell Ms. Heim where they were going.

Ryder came up to her, "Will you go on the seesaw with me?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, and the little boy's face lit up.

"Ya, no one else likes the seesaw, but it's the best," he informed her. Clint reentered the room, and the group was off to the park. The kids chatted on the way there, talking about their classes and teachers and any friends they had made. Clint just grabbed her hand and walked with her, bringing up the back of the group.

 _I love you_ , he signed one handedly, refusing to let go of her hand.

 _I love you too_ , she responded happily. Then the kids let out of whoop, seeing the park, running the rest of the short distance. Clint smiled fondly, and they raced after them laughing. They caught up to the kids and Natasha joined Ryder on the seesaw for a while.

Eventually Ryder decided to go on the monkey bars and Natasha sent on one of the park benches. Clint came over and sat next to her, smiling, then frowned.

 _What_? she asked.

 _You're still wearing a sweatshirt_ , he told her. Of course she was, she didn't want anyone to see. _You promised to show me_ , he reminded her. She sighed and pulled back her sleeves. She stuck her arms out showing him the bruises that her father and left. He grabbed her wrists softly and took a long look.

 _What happened_ , he asked, _you promised,_ he reminded her again.

 _I told him I had found a job, but when he realized it cut into dance practice he got mad at me for even thinking about it and dragged me into my room, locking the door_ , she explained. Clint frowned but just nodded and pulled her sleeves down. She leaned into his side and he embraced her. She then smirked, noticing Kyan coming up behind him.

Kyan tapped him, and when he turned around Kyan smiled and signed, " _t-a-g_." Clint leapt up to go chase them and eventually got her to join in. They raced around chasing the kids, and having the kids chase them in a fun game of tag that only ended when Clint announced it was time to go home. The kids frowned but headed back, it was going to get dark soon anyway. On the way back, they dropped Natasha off at the bus stop. She said her goodbyes and they left, smiling and laughing after the fun afternoon of play.

When they were out of sight, Natasha got out a book, reading until the bus got to the stop. When it did, she jumped on and continued reading, looking up occasionally to make sure she didn't miss her stop, and have to walk farther. She wasn't at a very good part, so she eventually abandoned the book, promising to get through the boring part later. She chose to look at the scenery instead.

When the bus reached her stop, she walked off, and slowly started to walk to her house, dreading her arrival. She too quickly arrived at her street and stopped for a second to breathe, and then stepped forward, heading towards the last house. She grabbed her key and stepped up the steps to open the door.

She opened the door, walking into her house keeping her head down. She walked towards the stairs, hoping to go unnoticed. She slipped up the stairs and into her bedroom closing her door behind her and breathing in in relief. She then heard the scream.

"Natalia."

* * *

So, a little bit of a cliff hanger. Like always, please tell me if you see anything wrong. Please review, and thanks to everyone who has.

See you next time,

.justWeird


	6. Natasha's Home

Welcome to Chapter six, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

Clint guessing what a word is, (insert word here?)

missing word, ... (three dots per word).

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs).

* * *

ALSO NEW

(speaking in Russian)

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter has reference to past rape, but no actual rape scenes. It also has the hitting of a minor.

* * *

Natasha quickly left her room. She then walked down the stairs and into the living room, where she knew he would be waiting. She stopped at the man standing by a chair and bowed her head low, making sure not to meet his gaze. He would take it as a challenge if she looked him in the eye. If he believed he was being challenged, she would get hurt. She made sure not to challenge him.

(Yes sir,) she said.

(Why are you not dressed, we leave in five minutes,) he shouted at her.

(I'm sorry sir, it was my mistake sir, I shall get dressed right away sir,) she said quickly.

(Well go on, and be quick.) She nodded and then scurried to her room to put on her dance clothes. She fixed her hair in a bun quickly, she could redo it in the car if need be, and rushed down the stairs again. Her father was not in the living room, so she headed to the garage, grabbing her dance bag on the way out the door. He was sitting in the car waiting for her. She got in with her dance bag and kept her head down. He backed out of the drive way and headed towards the dance studio.

(I'll be back at 9:30,) he told her, and he was gone. She entered the studio and filed into one of the rooms where a few kids were warming up. She wasn't late, which she was thankful for, if she was, she would be in trouble with her father. A few minutes later, the class started.

Dance went as always, her teacher praised her and the other girls glared, jealous of the attention she was getting. At least the other girls wanted to be here. She would rather be at school with her friends, or at the park with Clint and the boys, or at the lake her group of friends liked to travel to in summer, or Tony's house during their sleepover nights, or really anything but here. At least the dance studio was better than the house she lived in. She could be thankful for that at least.

They had a dance recital coming up soon, so they were practicing one of the dances for it. Natasha was the lead in it, and the only one who could actually remember the steps. She snorted, how did these girls even get into this class? The rest of the class had been dancing for as long as Natasha had. Unlike her, they didn't need to dance to live though. This is what made her better.

Eventually it was 9:15, and dance let out, so she waited out front for her father to arrive. Her teacher said good bye after making sure her father was coming. 9:30 came and went, and her father still had not arrived, even though he told her he would be here by now. At 9:45 he arrived, fifteen minutes late. Why could he be late, but she couldn't? She got in the car and they drove towards home. On the way she spoke.

(Sir?) she asked

(Yes darling,) he answered. She held back a shudder at the word. She was not his darling.

(Could you sign some papers sir?)

(What for?) he asked.

(For school sir,) she whispered.

(School,) he snorted, (Why care about school when you have dance, school will get you nowhere, forget about it, don't ask me again.)

(But sir, if you want me to get into a good dance school, I need to keep my studies up sir,) she told him. He turned his angry gaze toward her and slapped her across her face.

(What have I said about arguing Natalia,) he roared.

(Sorry sir,) she said meekly, and neither of them talked for the rest of the ride home.

When they arrived home, Natasha scurried up to her room and shut the door before her father could confront her about their conversation in the car. She sighed. This meant that she would have to forge her father's signature onto her syllabi. She had done it before; she knew her teachers wouldn't notice. She wasn't worried about her teachers, but her father. If her father found out, he would be very mad. She walked up to the mirror in her room and peered at her face. She winced. She didn't wince in pain, but in the fact people would notice it tomorrow. She checked that she had enough concealer and then put on pajamas, which were just an old shirt of Clint's and soft shorts. She looked up at her ceiling, and after checking that her alarm clock was on, tried to fall asleep. Falling asleep was decently hard considering that she hadn't gotten dinner tonight. If she hadn't argued she would have eaten.

* * *

Natasha jerked awake sweating, panicking, and extremely scared. She didn't know remember what the dream was about, but she could guess. It probably wasn't about her father, her father didn't scare her this much. No, it was probably about Uncle Ivan. She shuttered.

Eventually, she looked at her clock. It blinked 2:17 in the morning. It was way too early to even think about getting up. She sighed and flopped back down, trying to calm down. It didn't work, and she started to sob, her terrors coming back to haunt her. How her Uncle Ivan had pushed down on his bed, taken off her clothing, and and. She pressed her face against her pillow, trying to banish her thoughts. She cried herself to sleep that night.

* * *

The persistent beep, beep, beep, of her alarm clock woke her. She got up and took a quick shower, got dressed, put concealer on her face to cover up the hand shaped bruise that had formed over night, grabbed her backpack and lunch she had quickly made, and got out the door before her father woke up. She walked to her bus stop, and sat down on one of the uncomfortable blue benches there. She pulled out the seven syllabi she had, and looked to where their parent / guardian signature was supposed to go. It wasn't empty like she thought it would be. Seven signatures, her fathers, not her forged ones were on the paper. She put them away shocked and slightly frightened. If they were signed that meant her father had been in her room last night. She sat still, frightened and scared until the bus came.

When the bus did arrive, she hopped on and looked for Clint. He was sitting near the back and she went to join him.

 _Hey_ , he signed.

 _Hi_ , she signed back.

 _You okay?_ He asked worried. He could see the pain in her eyes. She nodded and drew a shaky breath and then put on her mask, even though Clint was the one person who could see through it.

 _I'm fine_.

* * *

Please review, I love to hear what you think about my story! Thanks for reading, and anyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited.

See you next time,

notUnique.


	7. Uncle Ivan

Chapter 7 is now up, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

Clint guessing what a word is, (insert word here?)

missing word, ... (three dots per word).

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs).

TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of past rape and child abuse.

* * *

For the next couple of days Natasha wasn't fine. She had been having more nightmares about her Uncle Ivan, and they were affecting her more than she wanted to admit. By the first day, Clint had noticed a difference, and by Thursday, she could tell he was silently freaking out.

Like every morning, Natasha rushed out her house and onto her school bus. Like usual, she spotted Clint and took a seat. Unlike usual he didn't sign a greeting.

 _Hi_ , Natasha signed.

 _I love you, but I'm not talking to you until you tell me what's going on,_ he told her, and then put his hands down and looked away. She knew he was serious, so she didn't try to stop him and instead leaned against him. They rode the bus to school, refusing to talk to one another, but still cuddling.

They got to school and headed straight to the tree they met at every morning. The rest of their friends were there, and looked up when they walked towards them, pausing their conversation.

"You have got to help us, Thor doesn't know what a pinky swear is," Tony said scandalized. Natasha just gave him a look.

" _Why is this a big deal?"_ she asked. Tony looked offended.

"It's a pinky swear, everyone has to know about them," he told her in disbelief.

"I didn't know about them until I was fourteen," she told him, and he gasped in shock.

"No, this is unacceptable, Thor you are learning about pinky swears whether Red likes it or not," he told Thor in earnest.

"What did you call me?" Natasha asked in a deadly calm voice. Tony squealed and hid behind Bruce.

"Help me," Tony told him. Bruce looked at him, then at Natasha. He got up and moved a couple feet to his left and sat down again, leaving Tony exposed. Tony looked at him shocked.

"Bruce," he whined, "You're supposed to protect from people who are out to kill me; it's in the boyfriend handbook."

Bruce looked at Tony and said dryly, "See exception A, when Natasha is involved and she wants to kill you, all rules are not taken into account for my protection." Tony frowned and Bruce gave him a kiss to cheer him up. Tony smiled and then proceeded to explain pinky swearing to Thor while everyone else groaned, but by the time Tony was explaining what happened if you broke a pinky swear, everyone was pitching different comments about how they worked. Suddenly Tony stopped talking. Everyone looked at him, worried. He pointed dramatically at Natasha and Clint.

" _You guys aren't speaking to each other_ ," he noted. They nodded. Everyone looked worried.

" _Okay what's wrong, the only time you stop talking to each other is when something's up_ ," Steve said. He was right; Natasha and Clint did this all the time to get the other one to reveal what was going on. Natasha did what she never did, and ran away. She raced along the edge of the school, eventually hiding behind the Gym. She put her back against the wall, and her body shook with silent tears.

Eventually Clint found her in this same position. He looked at her and she looked at him. A thousand word were passed between the two glances. She then nodded. Ha sat in front of her and started to sign.

 _Hey, I'm sorry, I should of know, he told her, I thought it was just the usual, not Him, I'm sorry._ She looked at him, and she saw him, but also Him, and it was all just so confusing, and was he there, or was He, what was going on, where was she, who's there, he's there, He's there, she's here, where was Clint, was that Uncle Ivan, was He here. She suddenly heard a voice.

"Nat, Nat, come on Nat, you'e at cwool, you'e in Ameruca, it's Clint, come on Nat, is not eal, you'e behin' the Gym 'uilding sitting on the ground, do you feel the concete. Put you'e hand down, feel the concete. Now can you look at me, good, see it's me, Clint. Take a deep breath, you'e at cwool and you'e having a panic attack, come back to me, take shome deep breaths, come on, thash it."

She could focus again. She could focus again. She looked at Clint. He looked about as terrified at she felt.

" _You good?"_ he asked her. She nodded.

 _Shit Nat, why didn't you tell me, why didn't you just tell me?_ Clint asked brokenly.

" _I'm sorry, it was just crazy, I, I hadn't dreamed about him for a while, and I was scared and, I'm okay now,"_ she told him. He looked at her in disbelief.

 _Okay, I'm not okay, but I will be, and I promise, I'll tell you next time, okay?_ she asked.

 _Okay_ , he paused, _Shit that sounded like the Fault in Our Stars_. She laughed. He kissed her and she smiled.

" _Fuck, what time is it?"_ she exclaimed. She grabbed his arm and looked at his watch. It was half way through first period.

" _You are not goin' enwhar,"_ Clint told her as she was getting up, " _We are goin' to 'it here and mabee, mabee go to 'econd period if you are okay by then. 'ot it?"_ She nodded.

 _Good_ , he signed, and she smiled.

The bell woke her. She jumped up, and Clint stood startled.

 _Sorry_ , she signed, _bell._ He nodded.

 _I thought you said you were going to set your watch_ , she noted.

He shrugged, _Hadn't gotten to it._ She rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, setting his watch to vibrate when the bell rang. She kissed him, and they raced off to their second period classes. Natasha sat in her desk just as the bell was about to ring. Mr. Laufeyson raised an eyebrow, but she wasn't technically late, so he couldn't say anything. He turned his back to the class and started to teach. She suffered through his class and eventually it was break.

Break wasn't fun considering her friends pestered her and Clint with questions. Tony was going with they had sex in the janitors closet, even though she had explained to him before that she was not only asexual, but also had been raped before. He was just trying to make her feel better, which she appreciated, but it was just too much. She left early for class.

History, Science and Drama all passed quickly giving way to lunch. Bruce and Tony had turned up late looking distinctively ruffled. It was nice to turn the tables on them. Tony being Tony shouted that they had sex in the janitors closest making passing people stare at them. The group burst out into laughter, as they in fact had not had sex in the janitor's closet. The janitor's closest was much farther away than the boy's locker room.

When the bell rang, she headed off to P.E. with Clint, leaving the group with a smile. They ran a few laps and played basketball. P.E. eventually gave way to ASL. ASL also went quickly. They went the whole day without verbally speaking. Mrs. Davis had told the class the other day that Thursdays would be signing only days. Again, the bell rang, the noise was already starting to get annoying, and she packed up her stuff and left with Clint.

She caught the bus home, went to dance, came home, avoided her father, snuck dinner up to her room, and fell asleep. That night she dreamed of her Uncle again, but when she woke up panting she fell back asleep quickly, knowing that tomorrow Clint would help her and he would know without her having to tell her.

* * *

Next chapter will be the be the start of the Friday sleep over. Also I totally butchered that Deaf accent, so if anyone has any tips I would love to hear them. In fact, I love to hear suggestions in general.

Like always, please review and thanks to everyone that reviewed, favorited or followed.

One last thing, if you are confused over some facts, good. Natasha's father is supposed to confuse you, and Natasha's Uncle Ivan and the whole thing between Steve and Peggy will be explained more later. Also, more information about pasts, futures, and relationships will be slowly revealed, I don't mean to rush this. Thanks.

~.justWeird


	8. Science Bros

Welcome, you have made it to chapter eight. I suggest you listen to the song _Kiss Me_ , by Ed Sheeran for this chapter.

 _"Speaking and sign language"_

* * *

It was early. Bruce was confused, the sky was still dark, but he was sure he had heard his alarm clock ringing. The ring came again, and he realized it was not his alarm clock, but his phone that was ringing. He grabbed his glasses and located his phone. Bruce glanced to see who the caller was and then pressed answer after groaning.

"Hi, Tony," he said.

"Brucie, science bro," Tony said cheerfully.

"Why are you calling at," Bruce checked the time, "3:30 in the morning?"

"What, I can't call my boyfriend in the middle of the night to tell him I love him?" Tony asked, pretending to be shocked.

"No that is not usually normal human behavior, but knowing you, you don't care do you?" Bruce sighed, stupid Tony calling him to damn early, he was tired.

"Of course I don't care," Tony answered.

"Why are you really calling?" he asked. There was a slight pause that lasted just a bit to long.

"I woke up and I was super booored," Tony said just a touch too cheerful and a bit to whiny. Tony hesitated, "Do you want to come over?"

"It's 3:30," Bruce stated, "I'm tired." Tony had won by this point and they both knew it, but it wasn't like he was going to admit it.

"So that's a yes than," Tony said cheekily, "See you soon, I love you." He then hung up. Bruce sighed, but got up. He grabbed his backpack along with a duffel bag of stuff he would need for the next few days at Tony's. He wrote a note for his mom, leaving it on the fridge, right below the grocery list where she was sure to see it tomorrow morning. He left the house and grabbed his keys. He got in his car and started the short drive to Tony's.

When he arrived, the gate was already opened. He drove in and parked his car. He got out, grabbing his two bags. He used the spare key Tony had given to him to unlock the front door, and entered the mansion. He walked down the hall to the stairs. He then walked up the two levels it took to get to Tony's room. He knocked on the door and heard a voice tell him to come in, so he entered the room. Tony was sprawled across his bed when Bruce entered. Bruce dropped his stuff by the door and laid down on the bed next to him. Tony curled into his side. This happened every once in a while. Tony would call Bruce in the middle of the night saying that he was bored, or couldn't sleep, or wanted to see him, or something of the sort. He never mentioned the nightmares they both knew he had.

"I missed you," Tony announced.

Bruce laughed, "Tony, I saw you less than twelve hours ago."

"I know that's like, forever," Tony said dramatically, "I missed you." And shit, if Tony didn't have the best puppy dog eyes in the world he didn't know who did. Bruce gave way to temptation, even if he was mad at Tony for waking him up super early, and kissed him. T kissed him back pleased and they stayed like that for a couple minutes. They eventually broke apart gasping for air, looking into each other's eyes.

"Mm, kissing, I like kissing," Tony said, and they went back to what they were previously doing. It didn't really go farther than kissing, because, dammit Tony, it is way too early for this, I'm tired and I need my fucking sleep, do you really want my other self to come out to play. Tony was disappointed, but let it be, knowing that not getting sleep was not the best thing for his dissociative identity disorder. They fell asleep in each other's arm with smiles on their faces.

* * *

Suddenly Tony was shaking him awake.

"Time to get up sleeping beauty," he said in a cheery voice. Bruce groaned, so Tony shoved him out of bed and he hit the ground with a thud. Tony just laughed. Bruce sighed and got up, heading towards the shower, continuing to glare at Tony.

When he exited the shower and entered the room, he caught Tony without a shirt on, and fuck his boyfriend was hot. It was also pretty awesome that Tony trusted him enough to let him see the arc reactor sitting in his chest. Bruce wrapped his arms around Tony and gave him a kiss. Tony smiled, threw on a shirt, and they went downstairs to where Jarvis was making waffles.

"Waffles," Tony cheered, and they sat down at the counter where Tony's little sister Pepper already was. Pepper gave him a smile and then gave her full attention to Tony, who was explaining to her how these waffles were magically and she must appreciate their importance. She just nodded along yawning, but still paying close attention.

The three of them ate their waffles quickly and hopped into Tony's car. They didn't take Bruce's because it was Friday and he and everyone else was coming back here later anyway. They dropped Pepper off outside her elementary school, and she raced over to where her friends were on the field, braiding each other's hair. Tony smiled and Bruce thought it was very sweet that he looked out for her as much as he did.

They drove off, heading to the high school, quickly arriving in the parking lot. Tony parked his car, and they got out heading to the tree where they met up with their friends every day. Steve and Thor were already there. Somehow a serious conversation about chicken fights started up. They apparently used to be a big thing in Hawaii. The four of them argued if chicken fights should be legal in the United States until Natasha and Clint arrived.

" _You look tired_ ," Natasha observed.

"I am, Tony woke me up at 3:30 because he was bored," Bruce complained.

"You love me anyways," Tony teased, and Bruce leaned into his side.

"' _O what wa' this abou' chickin fighs?"_ Clint asked, and the group proceeded to explain to the two new comers.

When the bell rang, the group dispersed, leaving Bruce and Natasha behind.

"He didn't sleep last night, did he," Natasha said sighing. Bruce suspected as much and shook his head.

"I'm worried about him," Natasha told him.

"Me too, but I'm also worried about you, are you okay?" he asked. Natasha gave him a look, so he let the subject go, and the two of them went their separate ways.

* * *

A bit of fluff, I hope you enjoyed. The Friday sleepover party thing will probably start in the next chapter. Thanks for reading this and please review!


	9. The Weekend Sleepover Begins

Here is chapter nine. School has started up for me, so I'll try to update as much as I can, but it will probably just go downhill from here. Hopefully, I will be updating every weekend, and at the very least every month. Sorry in advance.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs).

/-/ a signed word that someone doesn't know

TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of past child abuse.

* * *

Bruce headed to his first class, ELA with Mr. Laufeyson. Mr. Laufeyson was the worst of all teachers. Tony even had a theory that he was alien from outer space come to take over the earth. As Bruce sat in the class, he couldn't help but agree that Mr. Laufeyson was here to take over the world. He seemed to hold a grudge against everyone but himself. He especially seemed to hate Thor, but seemed to having a liking for Clint. It was weird.

He had History for second period. Bruce stared duly at the board; he didn't care much for history. Who cared about dead people who made stupid mistakes? He sure didn't. One upside of history was that he had it with Clint. Clint liked to rank the stupidity of the people they learned about each day, and made sure to give the list, with all the reason why he ranked the people the way he did, to Bruce after class each day.

He spent break chatting with his friends and sharing Clint's list with the rest of the group.

Only three today," Tony asked frowning.

Not enough /-/ on everyone else, Clint explained.

/-/ ? Tony asked.

I-n-f-o-r-m-a-t-i-o-n, Clint signed the new word.

Soon enough the bell rang, and he left for math. Math was quite boring, and he finished his work quickly, so he pulled out a book to read. He quickly got wrapped up in his book, which was explaining different theories on Einstein- Rosen bridges. None of the theories really made sense, but they were all very interesting. When there was five minutes left of class, he packed up his bag, ready to leave. The bell rang, and he headed to one of his elective classes, Speech and Debate.

Speech and Debate was usually quite fun, but they had a sub today, who really shouldn't have been subbing the class. She didn't know anything. The class just messed around and did nothing. Bruce pulled out his book and continued to read. Suddenly he felt himself slipping, and then he was out.

* * *

He surveyed the classroom. He recognized the scene. He always took Bruce's memories, but Bruce never got his. He also got more colors. Unlike Bruce, he wasn't scared of his other self, but then again, he knew more about his other self then Bruce knew about him. He liked causing destruction to scare Bruce. Bruce was scared and weak, that was why he was creating in the first place. He wasn't in the mood to be annoying today, so he let Bruce slip back in as he took one final look at the world. He hoped he would see it again soon.

Bruce jumped startled. He was back again, in the same spot. Not much time seemed to have passed, and he didn't see any destruction. He was confused, why didn't the other guy leave destruction, he almost always did. Bruce was scared, did he have something planned. He sighed and tried to continue reading and not think about it.

He had P.E. next, which was with Tony. Tony, whose parents were too lazy to sign him a form to get out of P.E. Tony had a more serious case of Wolff- Parkinson- White, or WPW (It's a real thing), so he really shouldn't be participating. It made Bruce endlessly worry about him. Today it was Tony's day to worry though, because Bruce told him how he slipped in Speech and Debate. Tony fretted over him throughout P.E. and lunch. He finally got a break during sixth period.

The bell rang, signaling that seventh period was over. He met up with Tony and they drove back to his house. Their friends would be arriving a bit later, Pepper was at a friend's, Mr. Stark was working, Mrs. Stark was at some charity event, and Jarvis was out for some reason he didn't care enough about. All of this meant they were home alone. Shirts came off quickly.

* * *

The doorbell rang.

"Shit," Tony cussed, and he scrambled to find were his pants had ended up, falling out of his bed in the process. Bruce laughed and Tony glared at him. Bruce pulled on his pants and grabbed his t- shirt, putting it on as he headed down the stairs and to the front door. He opened the door where Steve and Thor stood.

"Come on in," he told them, and they stepped into the mansion. Tony came down the stairs at around the same time, having finally found his pants.

"Hey guys, are Red and Katniss not here yet?" he asked. They shook their heads and headed to the living room. They turned on the Wii and Tony put Mario Kart in. They all choose their usual characters, Tony was Waluigi, Thor King Boo, Steve was Mario, and Bruce always chose Koopa Troopa. They started to play. The first race was on Maple Treeway, which Tony won triumphantly. Next Steve chose Coconut Mall, just because Tony sucked at it. Steve won the second round. Thor predictably chose Asguard, the name they had given to Rainbow Road. Bruce ended up barely beating Thor, with Tony and Steve struggling behind them. He snorted; Tony was only on his second lap when Bruce won. Bruce chose DK Summit, his favorite, even though he wasn't very good at it. Thor ended up just barely beating Steve, and he was claimed winner. By this time both Natasha and Clint hadn't shown up yet.

"Should I call them?" Tony asked.

"Ya, probably," answered Steve. Tony picked up his phone and video called Clint. It rang four times before someone picked up, and Clint and Natasha's faces appeared on the screen.

" _You guys almost here?"_ he asked.

 _Ya, sorry, we were_ , Clint hesitated, _delayed a bit, sorry_ , Clint signed, _we'll be there in ten._

" _Okay, see you two soon_ ," Tony said, and then ended the call. They went back to the game. Since Thor had won the last game, he got to choose first, and like always, he chose Asguard.

In the middle of the third round, the bell rang, and Steve who had already finished, went up to answer the door. He came back with Natasha and Clint in tow. They finished the game, Tony had won, and stared at one another.

"We are building a fort," Tony announced suddenly.

 _Again please_? Clint asked.

 _Fort_ , Tony signed, and Clint cheered.

" _Yas, we awre sew doin tis_ ," Clint said excited.

" _You are such a child_ ," Natasha told him, and he looked at her like she was crazy.

" _Itsa fowrt_ ," he said like it explained everything. Natasha just rolled her eyes but went along with. The group grabbed sheets out of the closet and started to build a fort.

At the end, Bruce decided, it looked pretty cool. Sheets were set up all over the living room, basically creating a giant tent. Everyone was gathered underneath it. They glanced at the clock and realized it was already sixth thirty. Tony got out his phone.

" _Okay, what does everyone want for dinner_ ," he asked.

Clint took Tony's phone and answered, _pizza_ , and typed in the number. When nobody argued, he pressed call and gave Tony his phone back.

The pizza showed up forty five minutes later. The group grabbed the boxes and brought them under the fort. The group debated on movie choices, but eventually decided that the weekend would be a great time for a Harry Potter Marathon. Bruce grabbed the first movie and put it in while Tony turned on the subtitles. Clint left pretty quickly after the movie started, and Bruce followed around five to ten minutes later.

" _You left quicker than normal,"_ Bruce noted.

 _Ya, it was just too much today_ , he signed. Bruce looked at him, he had been acting a bit off, and now that he was paying attention, he noticed that Clint was shaking slightly. Both Clint and he were abused, and watching Harry with the Dursley's was something neither of them could ever really handle.

" _Hey, are you okay? You seem pretty far away_ ," Bruce asked him. Clint didn't respond, and his eyes were slightly glassed over, which was enough of a response for him. He left the room quickly and ducked under the fort.

"Natasha," he said. Her head shot up, looked him over, and left the room to find Clint. Tony paused the movie.

"Is he okay, usually you two are fine just leaving the room," Tony said.

"Is friend Barton in need of our assistance," Thor asked in his booming voice. Steve looked towards the entrance in concern.

"He'll be okay," Bruce told the three of them. Tony looked at him, then sighed in acceptance and played the movie. They were far enough in at this point that Bruce was okay watching, and he leaned into Tony's side.

* * *

Clint and Natasha returned around the point where Hermione comes in looking for Neville's toad. They settled down on the floor with the rest of them. He noticed that Natasha wasn't touching Clint, giving him plenty of space to breathe but still close enough for him to be reassured by her presence. It looked to him like she had just talked him down from a panic attack, especially because she made sure was placed a decent distant away from his shoulders, back, and arms, and whenever she moved, she moved slowly.

Eventually, the first movie finished and they put in the second movie. They got to the point where Hermione was petrified until they had to pause it. Everyone was exhausted by this point, so Tony grabbed the sleeping bags they had stashed here a long time ago. He handed them out. Red and gold was for Tony, green for Bruce, red, white, and blue for Steve, silver, red, and gold for Thor, red and black for Natasha, and purple for Clint. They laid them out under the fort, and fell asleep.

* * *

Okay so WPW is a heart disease where the heart beats too fast. It doesn't usually continue to beat fast, but more at sudden random times, though it can continue for a while. In a lot of cases, it isn't a big deal, but there are more severe cases of this, and Tony is one of the few who has it. He was born with it. Some symptoms are lightheadedness, fainting, tiring easily during exercise, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and rarely sudden death.

Bruce has a multiple personality. Multiple personalities are usually created after a traumatic experience, and this is what happened to Bruce. Bruce is also on antidepressants and antianxiety medicine, which is actually common for people who have a split personality, along with gaps of memory. This was the closest thing I could think of to be able to have the Hulk, but still keeping it somewhat realistic.

Like always, please review, and thanks to everyone who has even glanced at this story. Though if you're reading this, you have done more than glance, so thank you random person. Good luck with school everyone, may the odds be ever in your favor. Bye for now!


	10. The Game of Risk

Here is Chapter 10, I hope you enjoy it. Small mentions of past child abuse are included. I decided not to define what italics mean, because if you don't know by now you can check a past chapter. From now on I will only define what something means if it is new or I think a reminder might be needed. Please enjoy, and thanks for everyones support. If you have any ideas, tell me!

* * *

Bruce blinked open his eyes and looked around. There was a light on even though the rest of the room was dark. He peered over at the light and realized it was a flashlight. In the light of the flashlight he saw two sets of hands flying quickly, talking to each other. He picked out a few signs. He recognized, no, never, safe, hurt, father, and gone. Never and safe were repeated a lot. Clint and Natasha signed really fast, they had been speaking the language longer, so he had trouble picking up more. Plus he wasn't wearing his glasses, and he was tired. He fell back asleep and let them do their own thing.

* * *

Bruce woke up again, but this time it was morning. He shook Tony awake with a smile.

"Good morning," he said, and Tony glared at him.

"This is pay back isn't it," he grumbled, and Bruce nodded happily.

"Feel my pain," he said smiling, and Tony groaned. Bruce kissed him.

"Come on, I'll make blueberry pancakes," Bruce told him.

"If I get up, do I get more kisses," Tony asked. Bruce pretended to think about.

"You two are disgustingly gross," said Natasha. They jumped not realizing she was awake. Tony just smirked and pulled Bruce into a long kiss. Natasha just got up and left to presumably make coffee.

"Come back," Clint whined when she left, "I'm cowld." Bruce and Tony laughed at him, and when he noticed, he flipped them off scowling. By this time they had woken Steve and Thor, so everyone started to get up. Bruce headed to the kitchen to make the blueberry pancakes he promised Tony. Clint soon came stumbling in and Natasha passed him a mug of coffee, which he accepted gratefully. He signed something to her, but he missed most of it, and she started to sign back. Steve was the next one to walk in, followed by Thor, but Tony was still nowhere to be seen. Bruce sighed, he must of fallen back to sleep.

"Can someone go wake Tony?" he asked, and none of them moved, though he couldn't really blame Clint, even if he had put his hearing aids in, there was no way he would have heard the verbal cue. "Please?" he asked, and Steve got up groaning. He left the room and returned a few minutes later with Tony.

"Pancakes?" Tony asked hopefully, and Bruce set down a plate, coffee, and two pill bottles in front of him. Everyone grabbed their food and dug in. Bruce's pancakes were well respected throughout the group. The only thing that could beat them was possibly Clint's waffles. In no time the pancakes had been demolished.

" _So what now?"_ asked Steve.

" _Well, I'm going to take a shower_ ," Natasha said, " _and then, Risk."_ The last word gave way to silence.

"Challenge accepted," said Tony.

"You are always a worthy opponent," Thor agreed. The war had started.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the six of them were gathered under their fort with a board of the world spread out in front of them. The game of Risk, where one person rules the world, had begun.

"Don't attack me, attack Natasha, she's winning," Steve protested as Tony announced he was attacking Greenland. Natasha smirked at his misfortune. Tony rolled the attackers dice, and Steve ruled the defenders. Steve ended up losing two of his armies. The next rule he lost two, then two, then none, then one, then two, and then he had none left and Tony moved five of his armies to Greenland, and ended his turn taking his Risk card. Bruce went next, revealing a Risk set and getting extra armies. He then attacked Natasha, because she was winning, but eventually gave up and attacked Thor instead. Thor was next, so in a fit of revenge he attacked Bruce back, and took over Northern Europe, which set Clint up in the perfect position to attack Thor. They played the game to the very end, and it went on for roughly six and a half hours. Their record was eleven hours. Natasha ended up being the third to get out, despite the fact that she was winning for the first five hours, and Steve won.

"Well at least it's boy scout here that's taking over the world versus Loki," Tony remarked.

"Mr. Laufeyson," Bruce corrected.

"But the name fits perfectly, he's evil and he hates Thor. Plus come on, we already have a Thor in the group, Loki was just too good to pass up," Tony told him.

"Mr. Laufeyson's not that bad," Steve said, and everyone turned to stare at him, "Okay, ya, he's pretty bad," he admitted.

"See, even Mister Patriotic agrees," Tony said.

" ' _e likes me,"_ Clint said, " _It qwi creepy_." Everyone stared at him. " _We a'e takin' abowt Mr. Lawfisin righ', ya, he 'eems to like me."_

" _It's true_ ," Bruce confirmed.

" _Agin, creepy_ ," said Clint, and the rest nodded in agreement.

" _It's also creepy how we all got him_ ," Natasha said, " _Even if we don't all have him at the same time."_ The group nodded in agreement again.

" _Okay, moving on from creepy subjects, who wants to finish Chamber of Secrets?"_ Tony aksed, and five shouts of agreement came. The TV was turned on, and the movie unpaused as they watched Harry Potter defeat the Basilisk and destroy Tom Riddle's Diary. The second movie finished, and they moved onto the third movie and ordered Chinese half way through it. They all cheered when Sirius Black was freed. They started the fourth movie and made popcorn which was passed around the group. They cheered for the teams during the Quidditich world cup, laughing because they already knew the outcome. They made it through the whole movie, but it was getting late, so they curled up into their sleeping bags once the credits started rolling. Bruce curled into Tony's side, even though it was somewhat difficult with sleeping bags, and fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

The next morning, Bruce was one of the last to get up. Clint was also still sleeping, but everyone else was already in the kitchen. Bruce grabbed some toast and sat down at the counter. He assumed everyone had gotten up fairly recently considering they all looked like zombies. Natasha looked a bit more alive than anyone else, but he assumed it was only because she already had coffee. She smirked as Tony stumbled towards the coffee machine and Bruce tried not to laugh. He made himself tea and watched Tony try to wake himself up.

They ate breakfast in silence, all of them either too tired to speak, or enjoying the silence. Tony woke up a bit more and realized that he had to pick up Pepper from her friends, and started to rush out the door. Jarvis stopped him at the door and reassured him that he could pick her up, and Tony sighed in relief. He thanked Jarvis and leaned into Bruce's side.

By this time Clint was still asleep, so they went back under the fort they made to wake him. Tony asked if he could do the honors, but Natasha shook her head and stopped him.

"Not today," she told him, and that was the end of that. She went to his sleeping bag and slowly shook him. His eyes shot open and he tried to move away from Natasha. Natasha took a step back to give him space, and he calmed down quickly once he was given space.

 _What time is it_? he asked. Bruce checked his watch.

" _9: 40,"_ he told him, and he nodded. He got up and made himself toast and coffee. He had just started eating when Bruce heard the door open. Tony left the room to go great his sister, and came back in a few seconds later with Pepper on his shoulders. Bruce laughed at the look of glee on the little girls face, and she turned to glare at him, which made the whole group laugh. Tony set Pepper down on the counter, and she started telling the group about her "super duper awesome sleepover," for her friend Michelle's birthday. Tony being the good big brother he was asked what they did, and when Pepper revealed her bright pink nails, he agreed that they looked very pretty. Pepper smirked and went on, knowing she had her big brother wrapped around her pinky finger.

* * *

I hope you like it! Please review! Also if you want to see something in my story, tell me, I am always welcome to suggestions! Thanks everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed, it really makes my day when you do!


	11. Apartments and Hedgehogs

Here is Chapter 11. Considering this isn't a super exciting chapter, though it does have Bucky, I will hopefully be posting another chapter today or tomorrow. Please enjoy and review!

* * *

After Pepper left the room to go play with her dolls and show them her nails, the group went back under the fort and started the fifth movie. This one was Steve's personal favorite because of Umbridge. It wasn't that he liked Umbridge, but all of the things Umbridge caused. Like Dumbledore's Army, dealing with the blood quill, and all of her crazy rules. After the movie ended Clint headed off, because he had a private class with Katie, one of the many students he taught archery too.

After he left they started the Half- Blood Prince, which was Tony's favorite. They only remembered that it was Tony's favorite because he mentioned it every single time. The followed the movie with Deathly Hallows Part One and Part Two, and all cheered when Voldemort died.

"I don't get it," Natasha said, "The most dangerous wizard ever, and he just turns to paper."

"It is quite dramatic though," Thor inputted, and Natasha nodded her head and in agreement. Soon after that Thor headed home. Natasha and Steve left soon after. Since Steve could drive, he drove Natasha home and headed to his apartment. He arrived and entered, announcing he was home, and his mother came to great him. He kissed her on the check and they told each other about the past few days.

"How's Bucky?" he asked.

His mother laughed, "He's fine, go on, go check on him so I can prove I didn't kill him." Steve laughed, but still left the room to make sure he was okay. He entered his room and after seeing his hedgehog safely in his cage he smiled. He reached in and took it out.

"Hey Buck, did you miss me," he asked. For once the hedgehog was in a good mood. Steve took Bucky's ping pong ball out of the tub and put it on the floor with Bucky. Bucky scurried over to it on his three legs and started pushing it around. Steve watched him to make sure he didn't go near anything that could be harmful to him. Bucky started to push the ball back over to him, and Steve fed him a treat and gently stroked the animal. He had had Bucky for six years now. He picked Bucky up and headed back to the living room. His mom was in the kitchen when he arrived in the room, and saw the hedgehog in his hand.

"I told you a fed him," his mom replied.

"I know," said Steve, "I just wanted to make sure he was okay." His mother shook her head fondly. He left the hedgehog on the table under his mother's watchful eye, and raced back to his room. He grabbed some of his art supplies and came back. He settled down at the kitchen table and began to draw. He started to lightly sketch the seen around him. His mother starting dinner, Bucky scrambling across the table, the cupboards in the background, everything was included. After a while, he set aside his supplies and helped his mom with dinner. He chopped the carrots and set the table as his mom finished preparing the food. He brought Bucky back to his cage, washed his hands, and then joined his mother at the table as they said grace.

Later after he had finished helping his mom with the dishes, he headed back to his room to read some of the pages from his school book. They had a quiz later this week, and Steve wanted to be prepared for it. He also went over some of his history vocabulary words, even though he knew he had them memorized. Eventually it started to get late, and since it was Monday tomorrow, he called it a night.

In the morning Steve got up at 6:30. He fed Bucky first. He then took a shower and got dressed. Steve headed to the kitchen and put two pieces of bread in the toaster and started to make his lunch. When his toast was ready, he spread some jam across it and started to munch on it. By this time it was 7:10, so he grabbed his stuff, making sure he had his inhaler, and got in the car and started to drive to school. He parked in his parking spot and made his way to his locker. He grabbed his binder and art supplies, stopping for a second to use his inhaler. Steve then headed to the big oak tree his friends met at every day. Tony and Bruce were under the tree with their lips locked when he arrived. He walked over and they broke apart when they saw him arrive.

"I thought that was reserved for the janitor's closet," Steve teased. Tony scowled at him as Bruce laughed. The three of the joked around for a bit until Thor arrived and needed help on one of his science problems because he didn't know the word. Once the word was explained for him, he understood what the question was asking and quickly finished the work page.

Soon after, Natasha arrived. Clint wasn't with her. This was weird. The two were always together.

"Where's Clint?" Thor questioned. Natasha turned to look at him.

"At the orphanage," she replied.

"Will he be here later?" Steve wondered.

"No," replied Natasha as she moved on to another subject. Steve knew the whole group was curious as to why, but they knew better than to ask. They tried to shrug it off but none of them talked much after that. The bell eventually interrupted their silence and Steve headed to Mr. Fellerton's art class.

When he arrived, he took his seat and started on the sketch he had started the other day at home. He was adding the final touches on a pot when his teacher called for their attention.

"Okay class, today you can work on a project of your choice, but first I'm going to pass out the rubric of the required art pieces for the quarter. By the time the quarter ends, you must have done all of these and turned them in," he announced as he passed out a paper with the art pieces listed. Steve glanced over it and made note of all of the projects that were going to take a longer time, already planning how he would get all of them done.

The rest of his day was fairly boring considering he enjoyed art the most. He had fun with his friends at lunch, the highlight being when Tony tripped over a planter and fell into a bush. Like Natasha said, Clint hadn't arrived late, and she was strangely subdued. Steve was worried about her, but when questioned, she just brushed it off.

When he got home he worked on his homework and played with Bucky and went to his art class at 4:00. He got home at around 5:45. When it was around 6:00 he started dinner and his mom arrived home at around 6:15 to help him out. Dinner was on the table by 6:45, and they said grace before eating. Later he video called Clint to check on him, but he didn't pick up, so he called Natasha instead. She picked up and they talked a bit before she had to leave for dance. He finished his homework and studied for the review quizzes from last year before heading to bed.

* * *

I hoped you liked it. What did you guys/girls/both/neither/other think of Bucky? Let me know! Thank you everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed, and for everyone who hasn't, please do.


	12. Literally

Sorry it's been so long everyone. Finally I have gotten around to a new chapter, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

(speaking in Russian)

-speaking in Norwegian-

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel.

* * *

The second bell rang as Thor rushed down the halls, counting down the numbers. A- 11, A- 10, A-9, A-8, there! A- 7 lay right ahead. He continued to rush to the door of his first period class considering he was already late. When he arrived in the classroom, he tried to sneak in and avoid getting caught by his teacher.

"Mr. Odinson," Mr. Laufeyson said, "Have you finally decided to join us?" Thor winced.

"Sorry, these halls are quite confusing compared to my old school," he told him. This school was much bigger than the one that he attended in Norway, and much more complicated to navigate. He did actually have a reasonable excuse for being late.

"Take a seat," Mr. Laufeyson said, "and don't be late again." Thor did as told, and picked up a chair.

"Thor what are you doing," Mr. Laufeyson spluttered.

"Taking a seat," Thor said frowning. Had he done something wrong? He was only following Mr. Laufeyson's directions. He was already late; he didn't want to get into any more trouble.

"Put the chair down," Mr. Laufeyson demanded as the class laughed, whether at him or Mr. Laufeyson he didn't know, "and for that little stunt, you get detention."

Thor still didn't understand what he had done wrong and started to rock nervously on his heels. He didn't mean to make Mr. Laufeyson mad. He took the bright pink detention slip he was given and sat down at his desk. Since he couldn't rock now, he tapped a pattern on his desk for the rest of the class period. He liked the pattern of a simple one- two beat.

He went through his day, completely forgetting about his detention. On his way to his third period class he saw a poster advertising something called, "Homecoming." He made a note to ask his friends about it. Thor was lucky to have them. Most people like him didn't ever have many friends, if any at all.

With these thoughts in his head, he headed to lunch, meeting up with his friends. He remembered the poster he had seen and asked them about it.

" _What is this Coming Home thing the school puts on_?" he asked.

Bruce answered for him, "Homecoming is when we welcome back the alumni."

"Alumni" he asked confused of the meaning of the new word.

"Alumni- students that have already graduate from a school," Steve explained.

"Homecoming also usually includes games, pranks, celebrations, and a dance," Tony elaborated.

"There is a special dance that everyone performs?" Thor wondered. He had never heard of such a dance. Was it hard to learn?

"No, like a party dance," Natasha told him. At this point he finally understood this homecoming celebration.

" _Okay, are we going to this dance?"_ Thor voiced his last question. Everyone was silent after that, did they want to go?

"I'll go if you guys come," Steve said shrugging. Tony seemed to debate the question before asking his question.

"Bruce, what do you think?" Tony questioned, "Are we in?"

"Okay, but if that's your way of asking me to go with you, try again," Bruce said dryly. Tony pouted, making Bruce smile. Natasha faked gagged and Tony stuck out his tongue at her in retaliation. The group laughed at how immature he was, making him pout again. This only resulted in everyone laughing harder.

"No but seriously," Tony said looking around, " _are we going?"_

"Sure," Bruce said while Steve shrugged and Thor nodded enthusiastically. He loved to participate in all the school activities, especially ones that were new to him.

" _What about you two?"_ Tony asked Natasha and Clint. They looked at each other, and did their freaky 'we are totally reading each other's minds but not actually we're so in sync thing,' as Tony liked to put it, and shook their heads no.

" _Oh come on guys, it will be fun,"_ Steve said.

(Nyet,) Natasha said, and then corrected herself, "No."

 _Not our thing,_ Clint signed shrugging. The group sighed, but opted to leave them alone for the moment, vowing to try again at a later date.

They finished their lunch as Tony started to complain about his AP Chemistry teacher, who apparently "didn't know what he was doing," never mind the fact that he had a teaching credential in the subject. They let Tony complain though, knowing the reason that he wasn't already at MIT was because of them. People rarely realized, but Tony really was a good friend, boyfriend, and brother. People just didn't care enough to look past his sarcastic shell, including his own father.

Mid rant, the bell rang, and everyone started to get up and leave for their classes, trying to leave before Tony got started on another mistake his teacher had made. Thor was just about to leave when he remembered the bright pink slip from earlier.

"One last thing, where is the detention room?"

* * *

Detention sucked. He didn't even know what he did wrong, or what detention was really for. He remembered his friends mentioned something about detention being a club for breakfast, but then why hold it after school? Mr. Laufeyson hated him. He had him write lines, but then got mad at him when he drew lines all over his paper. It wasn't his fault Mr. Laufeyson instructions weren't clearer, he didn't know he actually wanted him to write "I will not be late for class" over and over again. He sighed. This sucked. Plus, his parents were going to be so mad at him. Staying after school was never a good thing. That went for both Norway and here.

* * *

Thor pulled into the driveway and got out of the car and entered his house. He left to the kitchen, quickly grabbing a strawberry poptart and giving his mother a hug hello.

-Thor,- she greeted.

-Mother, how was your day?- he asked.

-Good good,- she answered, -Why are you home so late?- Thor winced.

-I had to stay after school,- he answered. She sighed.

-Go work on your homework now, we will talk when your father gets home.- Just then his father got home. That wasn't right. He didn't get home till later. He started to panic, the schedule change freaking him out. Then realizing that wouldn't help he tried to calm down, taking deep breaths and tapped a pattern on his leg. Reminding himself that it was okay, that it wasn't hurting anyone. He checked the time and realized that his father wasn't early; he was just home late because he had to stay after school. His mother and father looked at him concerned.

-I'm okay now,- he promised his parents, and he headed to his room.

* * *

I know its not much, but school has started to settle down, so hopefully I'll get back to updating more often. Thanks everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed, it means a lot.

Question: If you celebrate Halloween, what is your favorite Halloween movie. If you don't celebrate Halloween, what's your favorite horror movie?

Bye for now!


	13. Homecoming

In the last three days I have gotten two reviews, one from AisforAWKWARD, and one from Thor-Artie-SuperWhoLock. They encouraged to me to finish the last 100 or so words of this, so here you go. If you like this, thank them not me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel (MCU, comics, or otherwise)

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

* * *

CHAPTER 13

Tony finished tightening his tie, checking the dark material in the mirror before running downstairs. He grabbed his keys, pills, phone and wallet before leaving the house and driving away, rushing to get to Bruce's house on time. He arrived just a few minutes late (by this point Bruce didn't really mind) and knocked, waiting only a few seconds before the door opened. He smiled at his boyfriend and gave him a quick kiss hello. He took a minute to appreciate how hot his boyfriend looked and then remembered why he was there.

"Come on, were going to be late," Tony said, grabbing Bruce's hand before dragging him out of the house. Bruce shouted a good bye to his mother as he was violently pulled to Tony's bright hot rod red car. They drove off, trying to arrive at Natasha's before five.

They arrived just as the clock hit 5:03, making them late. Tony cursed. He now owed Natasha twenty bucks. The money didn't really hurt him, but his pride would be scarred forever. Natasha's gloating would be the end of him. She really was the worst when winning bets.

"Its 17:03* pay up," Natasha said gleefully when she opened the door for them. Tony sighed, but handed over the twenty dollars. Natasha cheered in victory, while everyone laughed at the scene. Everyone was dressed up ready for the dance, except for Natasha and Clint. No matter how often their friends begged them to go with them, they had refused. Instead they were staying home at Natasha's house, where the six of them would have a sort of after party once the dance was over or until they chose to leave.

"Everyone ready," Steve asked, and three heads gave bobs of approval, while two more looked on the scene.

"Do you guys have the spare key?" Natasha asked.

"Right here," said Steve holding it up for her to see.

"See ya guys layer," Clint called, and Natasha muttered a bye. The group of four left the building excited for the Homecoming dance, pushing and teasing each other as always.

The dance was absolutely boring. Out of the four of them, none of them knew how to dance. Ypu really would have thought that they would have figured that out before the dance, but nooooo. Tony remembered a bit from lessons he was forced to take when he was really little, but that was formal dancing. High school dances didn't really include that sort. Plus, Bruce didn't know how to dance, so it didn't really matter.

"Dammit Clintasha was right," Tony muttered.

"Clintasha?" questioned Steve.

"Ya, its Clint and Natasha's ship name," Tony stated. He got three blank looks in return. "You know like Bruce and me are Science Bros/ Science Boyfriends and Thor and Jane are Thane?" Everyone gave him a blank look, "You know what, never mind. Do you guys want to go back to Red's; I want to go back to Red's. Come on lets go." The other three members of the group gave each other puzzled looks, but followed Tony anyway. They weren't having fun either. Steve sent a text to Natasha and Clint saying they were coming back to her house. She didn't respond, but Steve figured she had gotten the message.

When they arrived at Natasha's home, Tony opened the door with the spare key the group shared and entered the house. They didn't see anyone, but they heard someone let out a low moan. The group gave each other looks before Tony got an evil look on his face.

Tony barged into the other room, covering his eyes, and shouted, "We're home!" When he didn't hear any gasps of surprise or anyone moving, he slowly uncovered his eyes. In front of him was Clint and Natasha playing twister.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Playing twister," Natasha answered as she tried to get her right hand onto a yellow dot.

"So why the hell did we hear you moan?" Tony asked Clint.

"Wha'," Clint asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.

" _You moan, why?"_ Tony asked. Clint turned his head to glare at Natasha.

"Because she jabbed me in the fucking stomach that's why," Clint told him.

Natasha turned to face him to answer, "It's not my fault you moved." Clint scoffed muttering under his breath.

" _Might I ask who is winning?"_ Thor questioned.

"Me," they answered at the same time before glaring at each other. Bruce took over spinning the spinner seeing as they were currently attempting to spin it using their mouths.** They had been surprisingly quite successful.

" _How long have the two of you been playing?"_ Steve asked. Natasha seemed to think about it as Clint asked for the time. When Tony announced it was almost 8:15, the two turned to look at each other in shock.

"A little more than two hours," Natasha announced. The group stared at each other in disbelief.

" _You have been playing since we left?"_ asked Thor. Clint nodded, and Tony let out a low whistle.

They played for a while longer before Tony pushed them over and announced a tie. They would've complained, but they had been playing for a long time and were quite frankly bored. They moved onto other games, which include two heated battles of Hearts. In one Natasha one, closely followed by Steve. In the second, Clint won the game by shooting the moon***, choosing to add 26 points to everyone else, making Steve reach 115, which ended the game. That's when Monopoly was pulled out.

"I call the dog," shouted Clint as always, with Tony stealing the iron right after.

"No, we are not playing this again," Bruce said firmly, taking the pieces back from them. Natasha and Steve nodded in agreement, Monopoly was even worse than playing Risk.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun," Tony said. For a while the six battled back and forth With Clint, Tony, and Thor for playing the game, and Natasha, Steve, and Bruce against the idea.

"Come on guys-" Tony started.

" _Don't say it_ ," Natasha warned.

"What's the worst that could happen," finished Clint. Two hours later Clint was hanging from the roof, Thor and Natasha were tied to their chairs, and Bruce had whip cream all over his hair and clothes. They decided to rated this a 4/10 on the damages scale. Compared to the Paper Airplane war of twenty ten, this was nothing.

At this point Steve, being the responsible 94 year old that he was, took change. He woke Clint up who untangled himself and jumped off the roof. He untied both Thor and Natasha and moved onto Bruce. He washed Bruce's hair out and found some of Clint's clothes in Natasha's room that he could wear. Lastly, he shook Thor awake. Through this entire procedure, Tony followed him, snickering. Who knew Homecoming would be so fun?

* * *

*I used this time system because Natasha is from Russia. My friend is from France, and she still uses this time system, so I thought that the same would go for Nat.

**This is before I read the Twister rules and realized that it is fairly simple to play two player. Oops.

***Shooting the Moon, sometimes called Slam, is where you get all the cards that count as points in one round in the game Hearts. Hearts is a card game.

Also, can anyone find the teeny tiny, doesn't even really count, mention of Lucky from Matt Fraction's Hawkeye?

As always I love you guys and thanks for reviewing, favoriting, following, blah, blah, blah. No but really, you guys are AWESOME!


	14. Slipping

Wow! So this is my longest chapter, and it really isn't that long, but from now on I'm hoping they will be this length or longer. I've worked on planning out this story better, so I know how I'm going to end, but that probably won't be for a while. I think. Well, here's chapter 14, so enjoy!

* * *

The six of them stood in the center of the room, looking at the mess surrounding them.

" _Good thing my father won't be home until Wednesday_ ," Natasha said laughing. The group nodded in agreement and started to clean up. They took the Christmas lights that Natasha had used to tie Clint to the roof down, cleaned the whip cream off the counter, put Bruce's clothes in the washing machine, and threw away the duct tape that was used to tie Natasha and Thor up.

" _So, what now?"_ asked Tony.

" _Breakfast_?" asked Steve, and the group gave a nod of agreement. Clint and Bruce being the only ones who could cook, started to make eggs and French toast much to everyone else's enjoyment. Everyone was in unanimous agreement that Clint's French toast and Bruce's blueberry pancakes were a gift from heaven and were never to be turned down.

" _So since we ne'er really ga' ta ask las' night, how was Homecumin_?" Clint asked, causing the four who had participated in the event last night looked at each other and groan. Natasha laughed.

" _That bad_?" she asked.

" _Yes_ ," said it Bruce.

" _Even I admit it was awful_ ," said Thor, and that was really saying something considering the fact that he loved to participate in all of the school activities he knew of. They joked for a bit about the awfulness of it, Natasha making sure to slip her "I told you so" in there somewhere, But of course, everything good had to eventually end, and Bruce started to feel himself slip. He didn't know why, probably a combination of little sleep, stress, forgetting his meds, and the burning anger he always carried with him.

"Hey guys I," was all he managed before he was gone. Hopefully he had at least gotten their attention.

He wanted to cause destruction. He felt that rage inside of him whenever he took over Bruce's mind. That rage that Bruce never used, never got rid of. That rage that fed him, never stopping. It was the reason he even existed in the first place, that rage, and he used it now. He used it try to destroy his other half's life, the life that was so perfect and happy. They life he hated, because really he was just an angry kid, an angry memory, always struggling to break free, but Bruce wouldn't let him, so he became himself. So, he set off trying to break everything he could as five people tried to stop him, help him calm down. He didn't want to calm down though, because in this mind he was just a kid, an angry, frustrated, revengeful, scared, kid.

* * *

"Bruce, hey, Bruce, you awake?"

"Hmrgfhmm," was all he could manage saying.

"I'll take that as a yes," the voice said, "Have you taken your meds to today?" Tony. The voice was Tony's. He managed to shake his head.

"Okay, um, that's not good," Tony said.

"Do you think you can get up?" This was a new voice he realized, and started to filtered it through his muddled brain. Natasha. He placed his hands on the cold, hard floor and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. Thor and Clint helped him stand, and then sit again in a chair. He swallowed.

"Did I hurt anyone?" he asked.

"You gave Clint a black eye, but otherwise no, nothing serious, everyone's fine, it wasn't your fault," Steve responded, knowing by now not to sugarcoat it, but also making sure Bruce understood that it wasn't his fault.

"Sorry," he said, directed at Clint

"Don' wowwe abouw it, it isen bad," he responded. Bruce sighed in relief.

"Tony why don't you take him home and get him some medicine," Natasha suggested, "and Bruce, you guys can come back later if you feel up to it." Bruce nodded, exhausted. Clint assisted Tony with getting Bruce out of the chair, to the front door, out of the house, and into the car undamaged. Bruce tried to fall asleep again as soon as he was sitting down.

"Hey no sleeping, you know the drill, you can sleep after you take your meds," Tony said as he started the car. Bruce sighed, but opened his eyes and tried to focus on something other than the fact that he was exhausted.

When they arrived at his house, Bruce was aware enough that he didn't need to much help getting to the door, but Tony still stuck by him. He got out his keys, but considering how much his hand was shaking; he just passed them over to Tony. They entered his house and Tony helped him into the kitchen, where he set him down on one of the barstools. Tony grabbed a cup, filled it half way with water and then headed towards the medicine cabinet. He searched through the orange bottles, before pulling one out. Prescribed to Banner, Robert, B. Take twice daily. Tony shook one out before handing the glass and the pill to Bruce. He took the medicine, set the glass back down and struggled back up to his feet.

"Hey, you, no, sit," Tony demanded, which didn't really help at all.

"I promised to call my mom if she was at work and it happened," he explained, and Tony smacked himself for forgetting that out of all of them, Bruce was one of the few that had a parent who A, actually cared, and B, was alive. Oops. Tony grabbed the house phone and gave it to Bruce. He punched in some numbers. The phone rang twice before the person on the other side picked up; proceeding to having a conversation that Tony only heard half of.

"Hi Mom."

"Ya, well now at least."

"Well you made me promise to call you so."

"Um, I may have kind of slipped, but I'm okay now."

"Ya I'm home, I'm using the home phone Mom."

"No seriously, I'm fine. Tony's here its oka-" Tony took the phone from him.

"Hi Ms. Banner, this is Tony, Bruce is fine, really, I just gave him his meds and he'll probably go sleep it off in a little bit, but he really is fine."

"Oh, Tony, thank goodness, are you sure he's okay, I could come home right now and be there in ten minutes."

"Ms. Banner-"

"How many times have I told you, call me Rebecca."

"Rebecca, he really is fine, he's just really tired," he looked over at his boyfriend who had his head on the counter, fast asleep, "and now he's sleeping, you really should stay at work, it wasn't even that bad."

"Are you sure," she asked, and Tony could hear the worry in her voice.

"Yes."

"Well okay then, bye Tony."

"Bye Ms. Banner."

"Rebecca."

Tony turned back to Bruce and let out a sigh, "Okay, let's get you upstairs."

With much grumbling and complaining they did just that, Bruce eventually curling into the soft covers of his bed.

* * *

Bruce woke and looked around, finding Tony nowhere. He sat up and caught sight of a note on his bedside table.

Went back to Red's to get our stuff, be back in a little bit.

~Tony

He sighed and got out of the bed slowly, still somewhat tired but not wanting to fall back asleep. He stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water. He sat in his seat thinking, slowly sipping his water, and began to sob. He didn't notice the door open and his boyfriend rushing over to him.

"Hey Bruce, it's okay, Bruce you didn't hurt anyone, I mean sure Clint has a bruise, but it's really nothing, and it's not your fault, and please don't cry, it's not your fault, it's okay, it's not your fault," came Tony's voice. Bruce continued to sob into Tony's shoulder, but slowly started to calm down.

"You okay," Tony eventually asked. Bruce gave a shrug and left it at that. Tony handed over his phone, glasses, tux and the whip creamed clothes. "I got your stuff."

"Thanks," he muttered, putting on his glasses, and took the rest and set it on the counter.

"Do you want to go back to Natasha's?" Tony asked.

"Not really, can we just stay here?" he asked.

"Ya, okay, movie marathon?"

"Movie marathon," Bruce agreed.

They chose Pixar as the theme and started with Toy Story. Bruce just sat watching the screen and thinking of how he had hurt Clint, and maybe he had hurt one of the others too, they might have not told him, and what if he destroyed Natasha's house, she would be mad right, and if not, wouldn't her dad be? And what if-

"Okay stop," said Tony, and Bruce looked up, "This is obviously not helping so I'm going to go call everyone and they are going to come over and we will all watch Pixar movies together. Got it?" Bruce could only nod. "Okay good," he finished, and set about calling the rest of their friends. They arrived in the next fifteen minutes, pouring in from the doorway.

"What movie are we on?" asked Steve.

"Toy Story 1," answered Tony

"Hey Bruce," said Natasha. All eyes turned to him.

"Hi," he said meekly. They settled down in the living room together. Steve and Thor taking two of the chairs, Tony, Bruce, and Natasha on the couch, with Clint perched on the armrest.

"Brwuce," Clint said, and Bruce turned to look at him, " _I'm fine_."

" _Okay_ ," Bruce said with a doubtful tone.

" _No really, look, I still have permission to hit him_ ," Natasha said grinning and proceeded to whack his already swollen eye, causing him to fall backwards off the couch.

"Hey ow tha hurt," Clint grumbled while everyone else laughed. Tony selected the subtitles options and then hit play.

* * *

"Oh my god, Steve is Buzz."

"No I'm not."

"Uh, ya."

"Well if I'm Buzz, Tony's Woody."

" _Tasha's that creepy dowl tht- ow, stop hitteen me."_

"Wait couldn't Thor also be Buzz."

" _Tha cwould wurk."_

"Bruce is Slink."

" _Well then Clint's Bullseye."_

 _"What? It fits perfectly."_

"Thor's Mr. Potato Head."

"No arguments there."

"Hey!"

* * *

I'm sorry, I just had to make them into Pixar characters. What did you think? Please review! As always, thanks to everyone who has supported me and this story. You guys are amazing! Oh, and to anyone who celebrates Thanksgiving, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


	15. Mitchell

Here's chapter 15, I hope you guys all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MARVEL!

Reminders:

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs).

* * *

Clint woke up, took his vibrating phone out from under his pillow, turned the alarm clock off, took a shower, woke up the kids, grabbed his hearing aids, and headed downstairs to make breakfast as usual. The only unusual part of the morning is that there was another kid already awake. A kid he didn't recognize. He looked about 15 or 16, but Clint didn't really know. He must be new, he realized.

Just then Ms. Heim appeared in front of him and he quickly put his hearing aids in. he didn't want to be reminded again that he had to wear them during the day. "Clint, … you're up, this is Mi…ll, he arrived (date?) last night and I'm aw (lay?) I have … today. The (p?) was to have you … him around school two day, and have him join your class seven though he's two grades (p?)low you. This is was quiet …, so it's just for two day. Star (?) two more row he … … … own classes. … that okay?" Something about, classes, new kid, was she asking him to show him around.

"Show him around?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "Mi…ll," she called over her shoulder, and the boy stood and came over. "Mi…ll, this is Clint, Clint this is Mi…ll."

" _Hi_ ," Clint said.

"Hi," the boy replied.

"Do you want to help me with breakfast? I'm making pancakes?" Clint asked. The boy seemed shocked with his odd pronunciation, but nodded anyways, heading toward the kitchen to turn on the griddle and to start mixing the batter.

Not ten minutes later did boys come barreling down the stairs, catching the two chefs unaware. Kyan approached the two of them and started signing to Clint.

Who him? Kyan asked. Clint was about to respond, but Kyan started to talk, but not to him, to the new kid, "I can talk." Clint turned to the new kid.

"Well then why are you waving your arms around all funny?" the new kid asked.

"Because I'm Deaf, Kyan was using sign language," Clint explained to him.

"But you talk," the boy protested.

"ASL is easier," replied Clint. The new kid said something else, and Clint couldn't read his lips since he was mumbling. Kyan's glare made it obvious it wasn't nice though.

Drop it, Clint said. Kyan huffed but let it go.

Clint checked his watch, "Come o, eat quickly, we have to leave in ten minutes." The new kid rushed to grab a plate and pancakes.

The two of them hopped on the bus, and Clint skipped Tasha and his usual seats in favor to one of the three person sections considering the new kid was with him. The scenery passed by, eventually landing on a certain redhead's stop. Nat climbed onto the bus, her eyes flickering to their usual spot before quickly adjusting and moving to where he was now. Only he noticed how she had fallen into a predictable pattern.

" _Tasha,"_ he started the introductions, _"this is_ ," he paused _, "sorry what's your name again_?"

"Mi..ll."

M-i-t-c-h-e-l-l, she signed to him. He nodded in thanks.

"Mitchell-"

Mitchell cut him off, "Mitchell."

He huffed in frustration and tried again, _"Mitchell, this is Natasha." New foster kid, he's following us around today,_ he explained. Natasha waved in greeting.

Mitchell looked at him, obviously waiting for an answer for a question he hadn't heard.

"Sorry, can you look at me and repeat that please," Clint requested. Mitchell looked frustrated, but did as asked.

"What … our class is?" he repeated.

"Science, History, then break, Math, ELA, and Drama, followed by lunch, and finally P.E. and ASL," Clint answered. Mitchell looked confused.

 _Slurring_ , Natasha explained.

Clint tried again, slower, "Science, History, then break, Math, ELA, and Drama, followed by lunch, and finally P.E. and ASL."

"Okay." Mitchell then took to brooding, staring out the window at the passing cars. Clint and Natasha gave each other a look but didn't bug him, instead opting to have their own conversation.

 _Are we doing anything for Halloween?_ Clint asked.

 _Knowing Tony, yes_ , Natasha replied, snorting.

 _And you know I'm taking the kids trick- or- treating. Are you joining us this year?_

Natasha thought about it for a second, _yes_ , she answered.

 _Awesome_ , Clint answered smiling.

Natasha then smirked, _Are we dressing up?_

 _Knowing the kids, yes,_ Clint signed drily. Tasha laughed and Mitchell looked up before retreating back into his mind.

 _Do you still have your circus costume?_ She asked with a smirk.

 _No, no, no_ , Clint signed horrified _, I am not wearing that_. Natasha just had an evil grin on her face.

 _Tash, I'm not wearing that, Tasha you can't make me, please,_ he begged, but her smile didn't waiver. He groaned in defeat

When they arrived at school Natasha and Clint stopped at their lockers with Mitchell tagging along. Once they had their binders and textbooks, they went to their usual meeting place. Tony and Thor were already there, but Steve and Bruce still hadn't arrived yet. Mitchell was met with curious glances as they sat down.

" _This is M-i-t-c-h-e-l-l, he's following me around today, new foster kid_ ," Clint explained. Tony and Thor nodded, pleased with the explanation.

" _Mitchell, this is Tony and Thor,"_ Clint told Mitchell. He waved in response.

" _Oh, and we were wondering, are we doing anything for Halloween?"_ Clint asked. Tony just gave him a look.

" _Noooo, nothing at all,"_ Tony signed sarcastically. " _Party at mine starts at eight, but I…"_ he faltered for a moment, _"guess you two aren't j-o-i-n-i-n-g us until later."_

" _We will probably be there by ten,"_ Natasha told him, and Clint nodded in agreement.

"What's … a bow Halloween?" Steve asked as he sat down.

" _Party at my place starts at eight, The Deadly Duo isn't showing up until around 10,"_ Tony explained as Natasha and Clint scowled at the nickname.

"You two coming?" Tony asked Thor and Steve.

"Ya," Steve replied.

"Thor?" Tony asked. Thor sat their nonresponsive. Mitchell was unexpected and Thor was trying to settle, to forget about the change, the unbalance.

"Try again," Steve suggested. Tony nodded.

"Hey Thor," Tony said again. This time Thor looked up. "Are you coming to the Halloween party at my place?"

Thor took a while to think about, and Tony was about to try again when he nodded. He was still nonverbal, but at least they had gotten a response from him. For the next couple of minutes he stayed like that, nonverbal and fairly unresponsive, slightly rocking. When the bell rang, he seemed to snap out of it, and headed to his first class while Clint headed to science with Mitchell.

When they reached the science classroom Clint introduced Mitchell and Coulson to each other before taking his seat. They did their bell work, which only involved getting out their textbooks and notes from last week. He did that, showing Mitchell where they were in the chapter, because he seemed interested, even though he wouldn't be taking the class. Science passed slowly, the fifty minutes dedicated to plain notes. For homework, they were assigned to finish outlining the chapter. Great, more notes. Clint's watch vibrated in time with the bell, and Mitchell, Coulson, and he got up to leave and headed to history. On the board there was already the Daily Afton*, this time featuring Ms. Afton as different Star Wars characters. No one really knew which student did it each day, they were a freshman, but it Ms. Afton was a pretty laid back teacher and let it happen. Today they were doing a white board review. Mitchell not knowing the subject just took to doodling on his.

He met up with his friends at snack, when didn't he, and sat down. Bruce still wasn't here, but that wasn't that surprising considering the night before. Thor arrived, still more responsive then earlier, but less than usual. If you didn't already know he was autistic, you would be able to tell know. He rocked slightly throughout break and Clint remembered him telling them that it was calming. The group went about as normal, knowing that would help most. They broke apart when the bell rang, everyone heading to their different classes. Clint and Mitchell walked with Thor, who was also in the class. They were surprised with a pop quiz after they turned in their homework. Other than that the class was slow.

Drama came next with May. Somehow Mitchell had already learned her nickname, and was agreeing that it suited her. When Clint and Natasha didn't agree he just gave them a look.

"She's acting," Tash explained, "she's the Drama teacher." Mitchell still didn't agree, but what could they do? They were working on set design today for their upcoming skits, and Mitchell helped him paint a bush. As they painted, Coulson tapped his shoulder.

 _Mitchell asks if all classes are like this,_ Coulson signed. He turned to look at him. Clint put down his paintbrush.

 _Like what?_ he asked. Coulson vocalized it.

"Turn … home (f?), take notes, …," Mitchell said

 _Turn in homework, take notes, learn,_ Coulson signed for him.

 _Versus?_

Mitchell didn't respond, instead choosing to continue painting the berries on the bush.

Later at lunch, Mitchell opened up more and willingly talked to his friends. Clint didn't really know why, but he considered this an improvement. Throughout the day he continued to talk even more, and was willing to listen. He participated in the gym, the only class he wasn't behind on, and even paid attention in ASL. On the bus ride home he talked to Natasha and Clint about what he thought of the school and even seemed excited to go back the next day.

Three days later Mitchell was moved back to his family, leaving the boys home. He didn't seem very excited.

* * *

*I have a class where a student does this. Everyday there is a new theme and four to five quick drawings mixing them.

Thanks so much for all the reviews, favorites, and follows, I love you all! Thanks so much for sticking with this story and reading it. It really means a lot.


	16. This is Halloween

Here is Chapter 16. Even though October is over, here is the Halloween chapter. I'm hoping the holidays will be on track with actual time by Christmas/ Hanukkah/ Kwanzaa. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: You know the amazingness called Marvel, ya, I don't own that. I wish I did, but I don't.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:

Mentions of past child abuse

Flashbacks of past child abuse

Mentions of substance abuse

* * *

5:30am:

Clint groaned, acknowledging that there was a bouncing something on top of him. He opened his eyes, someone he corrected himself.

"I'm awake, I'm awake," he groaned, "Please stop jumping on me." His pleas were useless as the kid bounced up and down yet again.

"… …! Clint, … …! … up! … … … … … … … … … … … help … (m?) …. …? Come …, … up … …!" Kyan said, obviously excited.

 _Slow_ , Clint signed, as he sat up.

" _It's H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N and you P-R-O-M-I-S-E-D to,"_ he paused trying to remember the sign _, "help?"_ he looked at Clint who gave him a nod to carry on, " _me with my C-O-S-T-U-M-E."_

" _Okay, I'm getting up, give me ten minutes to shower and get dressed, and then I'll come help you with your costume. I promise,"_ Clint told him. The boy squealed and said something excitedly, before racing out of the room, presumably to get his costume. With a groan, Clint flopped back onto the bed.

5:40am:

" _Come on Clint, you P-R-O-M-I-S-E-D,"_ signed Kyan, who then went back to yanking on his arm.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming, where's your costume?" Clint asked. Kyan rushed back to his room and grabbed the makeup, headband with floppy ears, blue collar, brown t-shirt, and brown pants. When Clint saw the costume, he checked the stitches to make sure that the black spots were stitched on the brown t-shirt and pants correctly and wouldn't fall off. When he had checked the clothes he instructed Kyan to put them on and meet him in the bathroom while he looked through the makeup. When Kyan arrived, he had the makeup set up and ready to go.

" _Take a seat and don't move,"_ he instructed the nine year old, and the young boy did as he was told. Clint got to work on his face, drawing the nose, mouth and tongue on Kyan. He stepped back when he was finished.

" _Take a look,"_ he said, and Kyan peered into the mirror.

" _It looks A-W-E-S-O-M-E_ ," Kyan told him, wrinkling his nose up.

 _A-W-E-S-O-M-E, awesome_ , Clint showed him.

 _Thank you,_ the boy signed grinning widely, showing off his missing front tooth, and then looked towards the door. He leap out of his seat and opened the door. Ryder stood in the doorway, hand raised to knock again.

"… you (h?) … … my cost(?)?" the boy asked hopefully, holding his costume up.

"Sure," Clint said.

"Look …, d(?) … … … Scoo(?) ... costume," Kyan shouted excited.

"…!" Ryder said, equally as excited, "… … t(?) … a(?) drag in," he said holding up his green costume. And like with Kyan, once Ryder had gotten dressed, he set to work on his green scale makeup. One Scooby Doo and a dragon down, two power rangers, a teenage mutant ninja turtle, a ghoul, and a Wraith to go. Clint sighed, he needed coffee.

* * *

6:55am:

 _Hey_ , Clint signed.

 _Hey_ , Natasha signed back.

 _Can I fall asleep on your shoulder?_ He asked her.

 _Sure_ , she said, shrugging. He reached up to take out his hearing aids, but realized he had forgotten them in the rush of the morning.

 _What_? Natasha asked him, frowning.

 _I forgot my hearing aids._

 _Ms. Heim is going to kill you,_ she teased him.

 _I know_ , Clint said groaning, and then stretched out, putting his head on her shoulder. He fell asleep less than a minute later. He began to dream about his father.

He registered someone jerking his body awake and then someone moving their hands. He panicked and shrunk back away from the blow he expected to come. It didn't come though, and that's when he realized that the hands were moving, signing, not ready to hit him. He took a deep breath and followed the hands movements.

 _Clint, you're awake, you're safe, no one can hurt you know_ , the hands promised. Clint didn't usually believe in promises, but this was Natasha, so he sunk into her side and fell back asleep.

* * *

7:35am:

A hand dragged him up, forward, and down the steps of the bus.

 _Come on sleepyhead, time for school_ , Natasha signed, smirking. He yawned and started the short trek to the building.

 _You were dreaming earlier,_ she commented _, about your father_. Clint nodded.

 _Have you been dreaming a lot about him lately?_ she asked, concerned.

 _No, I'm just tired. The kids woke me up early to help them with their Halloween costumes,_ he paused for a second, _and, it's just,_ he stopped signing. _I'm fine, I promise_. Natasha didn't usually believe in promises, but this was Clint, so she nodded in acceptance and gave him a short kiss.

 _I'll see you later_ , she said, and then she was gone.

* * *

6:37pm:

Clint left the community center at 6, since it was Halloween. Instead of working from 4-7, he only had to go to five thirty today. The manager knew him and knew some of the kids, and let him get off this once. When he got back to the boy's home, Natasha was already there, with a bag holding her costume, and another bag, containing his.

 _No,_ he signed, seeing the purple.

 _Yes._

 _No._

 _Yes._

 _No._

 _Yes._

 _No._

 _I will withhold sexual privileges._

 _We don't have sex, you're asexual,_ he pointed out.

 _Fine, then no archery,_ she said, standing up to take his bow.

 _That's not fair,_ he told her, trying to take it back.

 _Wear the costume,_ she signed. Clint made another grab for the bow.

 _No._

 _Yes._

 _No._

 _No archery then_. A pause.

 _Fine._

 _YES!_ she cheered as he sighed in defeat. She then looked over at him. _You don't have to if you really don't want to._

 _Nah, I was going to do it anyway,_ he said. She huffed at him, annoyed, and he laughed. She shoved the bag into his chest.

 _Go get dressed then_ , she told him, shooing him out of the room.

* * *

7:17pm:

When he came back she was already dressed. She was wearing a skintight spy getup that looked extremely uncomfortable.

 _How do you wear that?_ he asked her.

 _Practice,_ she signed, and then suddenly there was a kid pulling on their arms.

"Come ..., … g(?)," complained Vincenzo.

" _Go get everyone else and we'll leave_ ," Tasha told him, and he rushed back in to grab the remaining boys. Soon enough they were off.

* * *

9:28pm:

Two hours later and they had kids falling asleep in their arms. Kyan was riding on his back, Scooby Doo ears flopping against his neck. Nat was carrying Liam. They gave each other a look and told the kids they were heading back. Some of the older kids looked sad, so he left Tasha and did two more streets with them. At least this group was smaller, only consisting of Ryan, Faraji, and Vincenzo, plus little Kyan on his back. At least they got a Halloween.

* * *

2000:

"It's Halloween, Harold, let the kids dress up and go trick- or- treating," Clint's mother Edith begged.

"Daddy I wanna be a dinosauw and go twick- ow- tweating with my fwiends," a five year old Clint whimpered.

"Please Dad can we go?" asked Barney.

"No!" there father snapped, pausing a moment to take a swig of his beer, "I'm not wasting money on goddamn costumes!" he yelled at them.

"But," Clint started.

"Shut up you brat!" his father shouted at him. Clint stopped talking, not bothering to tell him he already had a costume. His mom had helped him make it. She had also said he could go trick- or- treating with his friend Evan.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and when Harold opened the door, another five year old dressed up as a dragon and his mother stood there.

"We're here for Clint," she said smiling, wearing a cat costume to please her child.

"Sorry, Clint's not feeling well," Harold told her, slamming the door in her face. He whirled around to face Clint.

"Did you say that you could go with them!" he shouted at his son. He got no reply. "Did you!" Clint nodded, meekly. His mom had promised he could.

"Yes," Clint said.

"I told you to shut up!" his father shouted as he whacked his son with a beer bottle. The glass shattered over his back.

"Go to your room!" Clint didn't move. His father hit him this time and then pointed to the stairs. "I said go to your room!"Clint scrambled up the stairs, weeping, looking back at his mother who sat there, not saying anything.

* * *

Present Day:

9:52pm:

His feet crunched on the gravel of the driveway as he herded the boys back inside the home.

 _There you are_ , Nat signed, _I was beginning to worry_. He gave her a kiss and held onto her tightly as he began to cry. Nat let him cry, and as the tears slowed down, she wiped them away, knowing without him having to tell her that he just needed her.

 _I love you_ , he signed, not using the simpler ILY, it was too simple for what he meant.

 _I love you too,_ she replied back the same way with practiced ease.

 _I still want to go to Tony's_ , he signed.

 _Okay_ , she replied. He knew his limits, and she knew him

 _But I'm going to change first,_ he told her, pulling at the purple material of his old costume. She laughed.

* * *

10:13pm:

Tony's was crazy. The music shook the house and he had successfully gotten the majority of the guests to dress up. Of course there was booze, but they still thought it was funny considering Tony didn't drink. No one in their group did. Tony didn't because it conflicted with his medications. The same went for Bruce, but Bruce had also had a father who drank. Clint's father also drank. Natasha had seen the affects of what drinking did to those who didn't even drink, namely Clint. Steve just didn't want to, considering he was underage. Thor had just never seen the appeal. Sometimes at fancy meals a glass of wine would be placed in front of him, but he thought the drink felt weird. Clint didn't know what wine felt like, but he was happy to never know.

Inside Tony's house there was a ton of people. Human bodies pushed around in crazy costumes, completely drunk. Clint and Natasha pushed their way through, and Natasha took note of the way Clint flinched away from every touch. One of the kids fell onto Clint, his breath smelling of booze, and Clint scrambled back, roughly shoving the kid to the ground. Natasha caught his attention and began to sign.

 _Let's go upstairs, I'll text Tony that we're here,_ she suggested. He nodded his head quickly in agreement.

 _Text Thor too, he'll want to get away,_ he responded and she signed an agreement. If the whole touching thing was too much for Clint, she couldn't imagine what it would be like for Thor. They made their way upstairs and to one of the bedrooms that was currently unoccupied. Thor joined them a moment later. Steve joined them ten minutes after that. A half hour later and Tony was kicking everyone out. Five minutes later and Tony and Bruce had joined them in the room. For the next few hours the group sat around and talked, laughing, enjoying the time they spent together.

" _I love you guys,"_ Clint signed, and everyone noticed that his eyes were misty, _"You're my family, you're my home, and just, thank you, I love you guys."_

" _Me too,"_ Tony spoke, and looked up, _"You guys rock."_ The group all went around agreeing and then laid down telling stories of past adventures.

 _I'll miss this,_ Clint signed to Tasha after everyone had fallen asleep.

 _No you won't,_ she signed back to him _, because we aren't going to lose this._ Clint signed nothing in return, and looked away. She tapped his leg, getting his attention again. _I'm serious._

 _I know, it's just_ , Clint's body shook as he took a deep breath _, I don't deserve this, and it's not going to last, I know it's not._

 _It is_ , Natasha insisted, but for once her promises weren't enough for him. She sighed, _I know I can't convince you now, so I won't try too, but trust me when I say we aren't losing this without fighting damn hard to keep it._

 _Okay,_ Clint sighed, and then closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

* * *

What holidays do you want me to show during Winter?

Steve is catholic, so I'm going to do Christmas, but do I have anyone reading this that's Jewish and wants to see Hanukkah? Just tell me what holiday you celebrate and I'll try to put it in. If you celebrate some obscure holiday that just ten people in the world celebrate, TELL ME! I'll put it in.

Thanks everyone for sticking with me this far, you guys are the BEST! Please favorite and follow. Plus review, reviews are awesome. Reviews make me really really happy and honestly do help with updating speed! So ya, to make me have a great late (hey that rhymes) Halloween, please review! Bye for now.


	17. Pepper is the Boss

Welcome to Chapter 17. I know, I know, I haven't updated for a while and I'm super sorry. I thought once it got closer to winter break things would slow down, but NOPE! I know this is really short, I'm sorry, but hopefully this will satisfy you for know. I should have the next chapter uploaded in the next three days, and it should be longer. Again I apologize, and enjoy.

Disclaimer: Marvel. And. G. I. Joes. Not. Mine. Now put that in a sentence and you should get the idea.

* * *

Tony woke up to an eight year old jumping onto him.

"Come on, Tony wake up, you promised you would spend the day with me," Pepper complained, shaking him.

"No I didn't, now I'm going back to bed," the elder sibling complained. Pepper raised an eyebrow.

"Yes you did, see look, I made a contract and you signed it," she said, shoving a piece of paper under his noise. He read through the "contract" that Pepper had created and admitted that it was pretty impressive, even though the spelling errors were numerous. Plus, he had signed it.

"Okay, okay, where are we going?" Tony asked sitting up. Pepper started to explain just what she had planned for their day together. She was interrupted my Tony's phone ringing. She turned to glare at it and picked it up.

"Hi Bruce," she chirped, "Can you please go away; I'm forcing Tony to spend the day with me." Tony rolled his eyes and stole the phone back from Pepper.

"Hey," he said.

"Your sister is amazing," Bruce said laughing.

"Ugh, I know, she made a contract Bruce, a contract stating that I had to spend the entire day with her. Which I don't really mind, but it's six in the morning Bruce. Six. I don't even get up that early on school days."

"That's pretty impressive that she made a contract," Bruce said.

"I know," Tony replied, groaning, "That's what scares me."

Bruce laughed again, "I'll see you tomorrow, bye."

"Bye, I love you."

"I love you too," Bruce replied, and before he had a chance to hang up the phone, Pepper was saying bye too. She turned to look at Tony.

"Okay, now we're going to go out for breakfast," she told him.

"Fine."

Tony got up and got dressed, took his medications, and quickly bushed a comb through his hair. He herded Pepper out the door and to his car before he realized he didn't have his keys. He rushed back inside and grabbed them. Pepper was waiting against the car.

"Okay, let's go," he said.

"Yay! Thanks Tony, you're the best brother ever," Pepper said hugging him.

* * *

At breakfast, Pepper got blueberries pancakes and Tony got banana. They ate their breakfast as they discussed the days plan. First, they were going to the movies. After that, the mall near the movies to buy a birthday gift for Pepper's friend. Later, they would eat lunch or go to the park.

They finished their breakfast and headed to the theatre to see _The Lorax._ When Pepper realized what movie they were going to see, she hugged him tightly, knowing that he remembered that she had been dying to see it. The entire movie she sat up straight, paying full attention to the screen. Tony thought it was adorable. Eventually the movie drew to a close, but that didn't mean it was over. She talked about the movie as they walked over to the mall, briefly pausing to find a gift for her friend, before yammering away again. Pepper talked about it the whole way back to the car, only pausing when Tony asked her what she wanted to do next. That's when she pulled out the puppy dog eyes.

"Tony, can I please get my nails done. Pretty, pretty please," she begged, as if Tony could say no to that face.

"Fine."

"Yay, I love you!" she shouted in glee, and off they went to get her nails done.

"What about this color?" Pepper asked, holding out a bright hot rod red.

"What have I said about bright colors?" Tony asked her.

She giggled, "It isn't for me silly, this one's for you. I'm going with this color," she held up a light blue.

"Pep, I really don't need my nails-"

"Please?"

"Okay."

* * *

After they left the salon with Pepper sporting her light blue nails and Tony his hot rod red, they left to get lunch at a sandwich deli close by. The sandwiches were delicious, and before long they were both completely devoured.

"Okay, what next?" Tony asked after swallowing his pills.

"Home?" she asked.

"Ya okay," Tony said as they started home.

"Will you play with me upstairs?" she asked.

"What are we playing?"

"G.I. Joe's," she answered excitedly, "they have to stop the dragon from destroying their base."

"Do you have any homework?" he asked.

No answer.

"Pepper?"

"I have to read for thirty minutes."

"Well then let's get that done first."

Pepper pouted, "But reading's hard," she protested, "the words swim and don't make any sense!" She looked down, tears already filling her eyes, "and Dad gets mad at me because I don't read fast or get math like you and he do."

"Hey, I get that it's hard being dyslexic, but you know that Dad gets mad at me to right, it's just his way of showing us he wants us to do good. Okay?" She nodded. Of course, that was a lie, Howard Stark only cared as long as they were absolutely perfect, which of course, they weren't, but Tony decided to explain that to he hopefully much later date.

"Then let's read together, well switch off pages," Tony said, "Does that sound good?"

"Okay?"

"What book are we going to read then?"

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," she answered.

"Awesome, I love that book, and guess what, once we're a little ways into it, we can watch part of the movie together, sound good?"

"Yeah."

Pepper flipped the page and started off where Tony started. He followed her stumbling words closely, offering encouragement when needed, when he felt an odd jolting sensation in his chest. And again. And again, and again. Heart palpitations. He brought his fingers up to his neck to check his pulse, only to find it racing. He quickly pulled up his shirt to check the arc reactor, only to find it fine. Shit. Pepper was looking at him worriedly.

"Do I need to call 911?" she asked. Tony shook his head and tried to breathe deeply, or as deeply as he could at the moment.

"Give it a minute," he responded. She looked at him scared, but trusted his judgment. Eventually, he could feel his heart rate dropping back to normal, checking his watch to confirm it. He waited a bit longer, and the heaviness on his chest lifted. Pepper looked at him, her bright blue eyes wide.

"I'm okay now," he told her and she gave a nod and began to struggle through the next paragraph.

* * *

He didn't allow her to stay up very late, considering it was a school night, but they did stop the dragon from destroying the base, which was good. In the morning he would wake up with her clinging to him, and he couldn't be happier, even if she forced him to get his nails painted on occasion.

something I said?" Steve questioned, confused as the rest of the group laughed behind him.

* * *

Um, so a bit of issues with Tony's heart and Pepper's dyslexic and has Tony wrapped around her pinky.

Thanks for sticking with me this far, please review, favorite, follow, or completely ignore, your choice. I would prefer the first three though.

What holidays do you want me to show during Winter?

I'm going to do Christmas, Hanukkah. and a Russian Christmas that I'm still learning about, but do I have anyone reading this that wants to see something else? Just tell me what holiday you celebrate and I'll try to put it in. If you celebrate some obscure holiday that just ten people in the world celebrate, TELL ME! I'll put it in.

One last thing, I'm at 47 reviews and it would be an awesome Christmas present to get to fifty. Please?


	18. Paper Feathers

Okay, okay, I know, I suck at keeping updating promises. I'm sorry. A couple quick things, first 54 reviews. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH. This is my first major story, and not counting this, I only have written two other pieces, so this is amazing. Thank you. Secondly, NAtasha interprets for Clint a bit in here, and when she interprets I DO NOT LABEL IT AS SIGNING, the reason for this is because I want you to know that it is the person's words, not Natasha's. Lastly, at the end it gets really wordy and lengthy, skip it if you want, but know, little bit of backstory, touchy feely, and REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT, so ya, your choice. Again, thanks for the reviews, next goal is 100! Enjoy,

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MARVEL!

Reminders:

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

l-e-t-t-e-r, is fingerspelling. (Names are not done like this because they are using name signs).

Oh, almost forgot, I wrote Natasha's B-Day scene before realizing it was Thanksgiving Day, so lets just pretend it's the week before.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: An amazing reviewer, Thor-Artie-SuperWhoLock, pointed out that I had stopped Clint's Deaf accent, I've taken a moment to explain. Here's the thing, while this story is 3rd person, each chapter or divider usually focus on one certain character. When the focus is on Clint, I don't do his accent because he can't hear his accent, he knows he has one and knows some of the letters and sounds he gets caught on, but he's Deaf, so he can't hear it. BUT, later during Thanksgiving dinner it sort of focus on everyone, so I have put in his Deaf accent during his speech then. I'm sorry I missed this, it's easy to just write Clint with a normal voice and then go back and edit, trying to figure out how much I should drop and change. Thank you for noticing this.

* * *

 **November 15**

 **AKA Natasha's B- Day**

(Good morning Natasha.)

(Good morning sir.)

 _You're 16_ , Clint acknowledged.

 _Ya_ , Natasha answered. Once the birthday had been acknowledged they moved onto more important things.

"Happy Birthday Natasha," Tony said.

"How do you know its been happy?" she asked.

"What," he said confused, "It's just a thing you say."

"I know, I think its stupid."

"Lady Natasha, I hope you have a glorious day of birthday."

"Thanks Thor, but it's really no different than any other day."

"Happy 16th Birthday," Bruce told her.

Natasha snorted.

"What?" Bruce asked confused.

"Why do people say that? How do they know that the person is having a happy birthday?"

"It just means that whoever says it hopes you have a happy birthday."

"It's still stupid."

"Maybe a little," Bruce agreed.

"Happy Birthday," Steve told her.

Natasha just groaned and turned around, walking the other direction.

"What did I do? Is she mad at me?" Steve questioned, confused as the rest of the group laughed behind him.

* * *

 **November 20**

 _Last day,_ Natasha signed, _Ready for the break._

 _Ya, besides the fact that I'm pretty sure Sitwell is going to give us a huge packet,_ Clint responded, thinking of the large amount of math to come.

 _Sucks for you, Jonathan is only giving us two pages, and I'll probably have enough time in Science to complete it, we're just finishing up a lab_ , she responded _. Are you working today?_

 _Ya, why?_ He asked

 _I think I'll stop by._

 _Are you in trouble?_ She gave him a look to say, when am I not in trouble?

 _I mean real trouble, not just in trouble trouble?_ He asked her.

 _Wow, that sure clears that up_ , Tasha signed sarcastically. He gave her a second. _No, he's not even home. I think I'll just come stop by, see Kate. You're relaxed when you're shooting. Like fully relaxed, not just relaxed._

 _Wow that sure clears it up,_ Clint signed, using her previous words against her. She gave him a withering glare, and he just laughed.

"Elbow up."

The fourteen year-old raised her elbow higher and took the shot. It hit the bull's eye. She continued on, all of the arrows getting in the center ring. Soon enough, it was filled, and she lowered the bow.

"Sill can't get your Robin Hood," the older teen teased.

"Shut … … jerk," she said, and he knew she was teasing from the smile on her face, "I'll be b(?)r (pan?) you in no (tie?) (ma?)."

When he hesitated for too long, not coming up with a response she finger spelled it out, _s-o-o-n I_

 _b-e-t-t-e-r._

"Not without your Robin Hood."

"… … (yard?)," whined the girl, pouting. He gave her a confused look. _Hard_ , she signed.

"Watch me." Clint picked up his bow and knocked and arrow, releasing it and picking up another, "Remember, you need enough force to split the first arrow, got it?"

"Ya." The girl knocked an arrow, trying it for herself. She shot the first one, hitting the bulls eye. The second landed next to it. The third wedged itself in an impossible position between the two. The fourth skimmed the original arrow, taking some of the wood with it.

"… … see …, I … …!" she looked at him excitedly.

"Again?" he asked, making the sign for repeat.

She tucked her bow under her arm, "I … … _close_ , I skim (med?) ..."

He gave her a smile, "Nice _Katie_ , almost there."

She pouted, " _Don't_ call me that." She looked over his shoulder, " _Natasha_." She left his side rushing past him. He turned around.

" _Hey,"_ she signed, _"Having fun."_

"…, … Natasha I … … … … (H?)! … not … …, but pretty ...! Watch!" Kate scurried back to the targets and continued shooting, trying to pull off the near impossible shot they had been working on before. They shot for a while, going past the allotted time as usual, only stopping when Clint's manager gave them a look.

"Come on Kate, time to pack up." She pouted but collected her arrows, putting them safely back in the quiver and began to fold up her target while Natasha got to work on one of the others. Clint checked the fletching on both Kate's and his arrows, and folded up his target too.

" _See you n-e-x-t w-e-e-k, bye,"_ said Kate and then she was gone.

* * *

 **November 21**

"Okay, Thor we're leaving, can you just tell me again who's coming over on Thanksgiving?" Frigga asked.

"Bruce, Clint, Natasha, Steve, Tony." His mom let out a sigh.

"Okay, but seriously, that's it. If your father and I come back to a big mess, you will be in big big trouble. Got it?" Frigga asked him.

"Come on, let the boy live a little," his father Odin said in his booming voice, giving him a wink. His mother sighed.

"Be good?" she asked hopefully. He took a deep breath and tried to meet her eyes to show that he was sincere.

"I will," he promised.

* * *

 **November 22**

 **AKA THANKSGIVING**

"Clint, your … … … to pick you …. (Re?) (ember?), you … … … back … ten," Ms. Heim said, standing in the doorway before exciting quickly. He exited the room and walked downstairs.

 _Hey Tony,_ Clint signed.

" _Let's go, we're s-u-p-p-o-s-e-d to be there in ten minutes."_

 _Are you ever on time?_ Clint teased. Tony's confusion was clear, so he signed the sentence again, slower.

"I _can_ be … _time_. I …, choose, not … …," he protested.

 _Sure_ , Clint signed sarcastically, walking past him to leave the orphanage. He spotted Tony's hotrod red car easily and jumped in the back.

"Hey Bruce," Clint said to the figure in the passenger's seat.

" _Hi_."

Tony jumped in the car. He turned to look at both of them. " _Ready_?"

They both gave nods, prompting Tony to back out of his spot and start the short drive to Thor's house. For the short fifteen minutes Tony put on some heavy metal, raising the bass so the vibrations would shake the entire car. The top was down, the wind whipping past the three of them. Clint let out what he thought might have been a whoop, and Bruce turned in his seat to look at him, giving him a grin.

 _We are free_ , Bruce signed.

 _Yes_ , Clint agreed.

" _Your late,"_ Natasha said as she opened the door.

" _We're not that late,"_ Tony protested.

She turned, letting them in, " _You're still late, by_ ," she paused, _"Thor, how late are they?"_ Natasha asked. He looked up from where he had been talking with Steve. He checked the clock quickly.

"Three minutes and 27 (?)," Thor responded.

"…, … … three minutes and 27 (sec?)," Tony said.

"(N?) 31," Thor commented.

Tony groaned, _"Okay, okay, I'm late."_ Natasha gave a satisfied smile and turned back inside, dragging Clint with her into the kitchen.

" _Help me cook,"_ she demanded.

"Uh, first step? I'm kicking you out," he told her. She pouted _. "You burn everything,"_ he said, supporting his previous statement. She pouted again, but willingly trudged out, giving him a quick kiss as she passed.

"Steve?' he called out. Steve's head poked out from around the corner.

" _Ya?"_ he asked.

" _Can you and Bruce help me out?"_

" _Ya_ …, let … grab (?m)," Steve said, disappearing. He returned quickly with Bruce in tow and the three of them got to work. They had planned this beforehand. They decided they didn't really want to cook a whole turkey, so instead the settled on burgers, asparagus, potatoes, fruit salad, and actual salad. They had ice cream in the freezer for dessert.

" _Clint, how do you sign T-h-a-n-k-s-g-i-v-i-n-g?"_ Thor asked.

 _Thanksgiving,_ he demonstrated.

Thor raised his glass of apple cider, awkwardly signing one handed, _"Happy Thanksgiving friends."_

The toast was murmured around the room between the six individuals sitting at the table. Eventually the toast came to a stop and everyone was silent. Everyone noted that Steve hadn't joined in.

" _Does ever remember the f-e-a-t-h-e-r-s we would put on p-a-p-e-r t-u-r-k-e-y-s, s-t-a-t-i-n-g what we were t-h-a-n-k-f-u-l for that year?"_ Steve suddenly asked. Four heads nodded.

" _What are these f-e-a-t-h-e-r-s_?" Thor asked, confused. They took to explaining the tradition that elementary teachers made them do. You would cut out a feather, write what you were thankful for, and why. Most people did friends, family, food, shelter, the basics.

"Well," Steve continued and Natasha jumped in to interpret, "I remember in second grade we had to do three, I did the usual, family, friends, that sort of thing. But, on my last one," he paused, took a breath and continued, "I wrote that I was thankful for rules. My teacher," he laughed here, but not like usual, he wasn't happy, "my teacher asked me why. I said. I said," he took a deep breath, his voice cracking, tears staining his eyes; "I said I was thankful for rules because the rules said. The rules said that my dad was done, one more month and he was done, home from the war. My teacher smiled at me and let me continue working. Two weeks later and he was home, but instead of walking through the door, he was carried in a casket." Everyone stared at him, wondering if he was going to continue. He took another breath, "A year ago I was taking a cultural studies unit. Even though the whole thankful thing didn't come for a while after the time period we were studying, we still made the silly little feathers. This was around when Peggy and I started getting really serious." The group knew were this was going as he struggled to take a breath, a tear slipping down his cheek. "I wrote I was thankful for chemotherapy, because it was working," he paused, and then turned suddenly angry, "IT WAS WORKING," he repeated, slumping into his seat. "A month later it stopped working. A few weeks later and she was gone. So, to me it hasn't every really been Happy Thanksgiving," he concluded. The room was silent.

"Three days after Thanksgiving. 2005," Bruce spoke. The group turned to look at him. "Three days after Thanksgiving, 2004 my dad was arrested and sent to jail for the attempted murder of Rebecca Banner and abuse to both his spouse and child." He looked up at Steve, "I get that you hate it, but can you understand why I love it?"

" _Two weeks before Thanksgiving, when I was seven, I decided to climb a tree,"_ she sighed " _There was these stupid kids at school, and I had only been living in the states for a few weeks, basically perfect bullying material, so I climbed a tree. I sat on one of the branches, looked up at the sky, and not four feet above me was another seven year-old, staring at me. He jumped out of the tree, scurrying away, but the next day, and the day after that, on and on, we both reappeared in the tree. And that was the day I met Clinton Francis Barton."_ She squeezed her boyfriend's hand as he got lost remembering that day.

Clint spoke next, _"Tanksgiv vin day, I waz eight. A powice offcer showed up at owr house sayin' that owr parents were dead. Car cras. Barney, my brutter, look'd at me and sig'ed tree words." We. Are. Free_. Bruce looked up. He had signed the exact same words earlier, just now realizing their importance to him.

"Um, I woke up from surgery three days before Thanksgiving? I mean, sure the ARC reactor isn't necessarily a good thing, but it's way better with than without," Tony offered as he traced the reactor's casing.

"Last year. Ten days after Thanksgiving," Thor began, "I was lost, it was my first day at this school, and your winding halls are very confusing," he gave a frown, "A girl grabbed my backpack, took my schedule, read it, dragged me three doors done and shoved me into the classroom. I saw the tips of red hair, and then maiden had disappeared, only to drag me to lunch later again." Natasha grinned at Thor. Everyone stared expectantly at Steve, who sighed, grinned, and gave in.

" _Thanksgiving day, 2012, my group of friends got together and showed me that I was wrong about Thanksgiving, lending their support,"_ He looked up, " _and for the first Thanksgiving since he was eight, Steven Grant Rogers smiled,"_ Steven spoke, his eyes still tear stained, but smiling.


	19. Hanukkah Blessings

Sorry this took so long, but finally Chapter 19. This is the Hanukkah chapter. MAny thanks to percab8531, who helped explain how this amazing holiday was celebrated. I tried my best, so if anything is incorrect, please tell me.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MARVEL!

Reminders:

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

* * *

Steve coughed as he entered the kitchen. Pausing for a second to hold the counter as more coughing shook his body.

"Steve?" his mother asked, "That you?"

"Ya ma."

"You getting sick again?" she asked worriedly.

He coughed again, "I'm fine." His mom entered the kitchen.

"You are very much not fine, and you know it. Take some medicine," she scolded him. He hung his head, sheepish.

"Okay," he said giving her a hug before breaking off into another coughing fit. She looked at him worriedly.

"Make sure you have your inhaler," she told him as he headed towards the medicine cabinet.

"I know ma, now I have to get to school," he said as he grabbed a piece of toast. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Now go on, get to school," Sarah Rogers told her son.

"Yes ma'am," he responded cheekily.

"Oh, shoo, get out of here." Doing as his mother said, Steve left for school.

"You're getting sick," Natasha noted.

"Ya," he agreed. She gave a frown.

"Come on, I'm fine," he whined, before breaking off into another hacking cough. She raised her eyebrows. "It's not bronchitis?" he told her in a slightly hopeful voice.

"Yep, its bronchitis," the doctor said as he examined Steve.

"Ugh, Natasha's gonna be pissed," Steve groaned.

"What about your mother," Sarah Rogers scolded her son. He looked at her sheepishly.

"Sorry?" he voiced, as if he was asking a question.

"Oh, sweetie I'm just worried," Sarah told him as she fretted around him.

"Ma, I'm going to be okay," he promised her. She gave him a look and he just gave her a smile. She let out a sigh.

"What am I going to do with you?"

"Ship me off to boarding school, never to see me again," he teased cheekily.

"I just might if you keep taking sure poor care of yourself."

"Okay, you just need to take this until the pills run out, and if your cough still continues after that, wait three days and then come back in. You have an inhaler right? Use it," the doctor instructed.

The bronchitis eventually turned into just a nasty cough after a week and a half. This meant he was well enough to have friends over.

" _Dude, you have to stop getting sick,"_ Tony told him as his friends piled into the apartment.

"Ya sure Tony, I'll just magically heal my immune system with a magic potion from a German scientist," he replied sarcastically before coughing again. He turned towards Bruce, "Happy Hanukkah."

"Thanks," he responded.

"So _what's happened_ the last week or two?" Steve asked.

" _Well Mr. Laufeyson now officially hates Thor,"_ Natasha told him, _"We are now officially calling him Loki full time now because to Tony's point, the name fits perfectly."_

"Told you you would use it," Tony grumbled under his breath.

" _I thought he already hated Thor?"_ Steve said, voicing it as a question.

"Tis true," Thor agreed, "but now his hate is overwhelming."

" _What changed_ then?" Steve asked.

" _We're actlly not relly suwre,"_ Clint said _, "bu' now he tries twices hard to ponish Thor."_

"I have gotten many more detentions," Thor said.

"You should _tell somebody_ ," Steve told them.

" _Who?_ No one would actually do anything," Bruce said. The group sighed in agreement.

" _Oh, and this is what you missed,"_ Natasha said, dumping a huge pile of homework on the kitchen table. Steve groaned, "This is going to suck to make up."

" _A' leest ou 'ave a wek and ahalf, pwus you're not goimg back to scwool quit yet, right? So ou have a few days_ ," Clint said. The group stayed for a few hours, enjoying the missed time with their friend. Steve was still sick though, so they didn't stay late.

After they left, Steve headed back to his room, flicking the light on and headed to his desk. He sat down and let his pencil carrying him, not thinking. Soon enough, Peggy's face was staring up at him. He looked at it for a moment before sighing, closing the sketchpad, and headed to bed. He dreamt of her smile and how her eyes used to twinkle.

* * *

When Bruce got home, his mom was in the kitchen with his aunt. His aunt, uncle, and little cousins were spending Hanukkah with his family. The smell of latkes filled the air and he smiled, his mom's latkes were the best. He entered the living room where his little cousins, Abbey and Jacob were playing. Jacob was now four and Abbey a little over 15 months. His uncle was with them. When they saw him their eyes lit up.

"Bruce!" was Jacob excited cry as he leapt up and hugged Bruce.

"Bwucey! Bwucey play with dolly?" was Jacob's little sister's reply as she held up her dolls.

"Sure," he said smiling, "Jacob, want to join us?"

"But dollies are for girls," Jacob whined, eyeing them anyway.

"Well I happen to enjoy playing dolls, you're welcome to join us Jacob," he turned to Abbey, "Can he have the black- haired one?"

"She Izbell," Abbey corrected, and then thought about the question, "Jacob be Izbell," she decided.

"Jacob?"

"Okay, I'll be Isabel," he decided, a small smile ghosting his lips. Just then Bruce's mother walked in.

"Samuel could you, oh Bruce, your home," she spoke.

"Hey mom," Bruce greeted her, standing up for her hug.

"Is Tony still coming," she asked, not seeing him in the room.

"Yes, he should be here any minute," Bruce started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Ok good, go get the door. Samuel, can you help us in the kitchen?" She asked Bruce's uncle. He got up and followed her as Bruce went to the door.

"Hey," Bruce greeted his boyfriend.

"Hey," Tony said, putting on his usual cocky, but endearing, grin.

"Come on in, my cousins are in the living room." Tony entered the house and followed Bruce inside towards the living room.

"Ok, Tony, this is Abbey and Jacob, Abbey, Jacob, this is my boyfriend Tony," Bruce introduced them.

Abbey, never to be shy, greeted him loudly, "Hi Tony," she turned towards Bruce, "We play dollies now," she instructed.

"I like her," Tony whispered to him, "Reminds me of Pepper." Bruce snorted; Abbey and Pepper were fairly similar. Pepper just preferred G.I. Joes over dolls. Bruce and Tony sat down. The four of them played with dolls for a while, stopping for dinner.

Dinner was a fun event with latkes with sour cream, sufganiyot, bimuelos, cream cheese rugelach, fried apple fritters, and much more. The food was mostly fried, a Hanukkah tradition. Like always, his mother's latkes were amazing. Tony seemed to enjoy the traditional Jewish food, which made him happy considering this was the first time Tony had come over for Hanukkah. Later, the kids got together and played dreidel, each trying to get the most gelt. People wouldn't have thought, but dreidel was actually a really competitive game. The night of course couldn't last, his younger cousins conked out, Tony went home, and Bruce headed to his room, checking to make sure his phone was on, before falling asleep.

The next seven days followed in similar fashion, except the fact that Tony didn't join them every night. Plus, on the third day Clint and Natasha joined them. Steve came on the fourth and Tony, Steve, and Thor on the seventh. And on the eighth day as the sky became completely dark and his mom lit the eighth candle middle of the menorah as his family recited the blessings Bruce decided that it was the best Hanukkah yet.

* * *

I'm still not completely satisfied with the ending, I might end up changing it. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me. Please review, favorite, follow, and read on. You guys are all AWESOME!


	20. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

Okay before you say anything, I know it has been a long time. In this case I actually have a really good excuse, but I'm not going to use it, I'm just going to apologize. I'm Sorry. Now here is chapter 20. Finally.

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. Or the chapter title. Can anyone tell me where it's from?

 _Sign Language_

OKAY LAST THING SUPER IMPORTANT! THIS IS IN THE PAST! NO SPECIFIC DATES NEEDED, JUST KNOW THEY ARE IN ORDER FROM LONGEST AGO TO THE MOST RECENT! OKAY THANKS, READ ON!

* * *

Clint knew things. He didn't know lots of things, but he knew a few things. He knew his father was a jerk and that nothing could be done to stop him. He knew that something was wrong with him. He missed things when others didn't. He never knew when people were behind him, but everyone else did. People communicated by opening and closing their mouths but he didn't. Barney understood this. They wrote stuff down. Barney called the moving mouth thing talking and called Clint, Deaf. Clint knew this. He also knew that the green-eyed girl looking straight up at him needed a friend. Clint needed one too. He also knew she was scared. He was scared too.

He went home that night, thoughts filled with a pair of scared green eyes looking up at him. Clint knew that look, he saw it his mom, in Barney, and himself when he looked in the mirror. That night as his father drank and hit him he was reminded of her scared gaze. He wondered if she saw the fear in his eyes too. If she could see it would that be a good thing or a bad thing. Clint knew some things, but he didn't know the answer to this.

Natasha didn't know anything anymore. She didn't like not knowing things. It scared her. Not as much as her Uncle Ivan scared her, but still. The only thing she did know is that the other day when she climbed that tree the little boy with big gray blue eyes seemed as shocked as she was that someone else was there. Well, why not shock him again?

He was here again, good, but he wasn't shocked. He already adapted to her presence. Green eyes met gray blue, both too scared or too curious or too happy or too shy or too overwhelmed. It didn't really matter, neither of them could be the light in each other's lives, both of them were too dark already to do that. But at least now they knew there was other darkness out there, and somehow that was comforting. It may not be a warm fuzzy blanket and a warm cup of hot chocolate, but it was something, and really that's all that mattered. So they sat in the old oak tree, staring at each, neither saying anything, because one couldn't, not yet, not really, his hands didn't have the words and his mouth didn't get it yet, and the other was still learning, not quite getting the way the vowels flowed and the constants cut off, but it didn't matter, because soon they would talk and find not just a friend in each other, but a life. They didn't fit like yin and yang or like two sides of the same coin, but somehow it just worked. And even when it didn't work, fake it 'til you make it, right?

This was where she changed from Natasha to Nat, Tash, and Tasha. This is where he changed from Clinton, Clint, Boy, and Brat, to _Clint_.

They weren't Natasha and Clint and Clint and Natasha yet. That happened later, but all that really matters is that it happened.

Bruce and Tony's meeting was a little bit different. Bruce may have sort of kind of thrown a table in Tony's direction. Okay well it wasn't actually totally Bruce. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't just him. But still, throwing a table at your future boyfriend? Not the smartest move. When Bruce returned to school, and he was allowed back much to his surprise, Tony went straight up to him. Bruce tried to turn the other way, but Tony caught him by the arm.

"It's good to see you again Bruce. Your work in the lab is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a rage monster," he said with a smirk. And thus, and very much unlike Natasha and Clint and Clint and Natasha, the ScienceBros were born.

Steve of course was next. Tony and Steve had actually known each other for years. How could they not? Howard had been working for years on a cure for asthma and not only did Steve have asthma but their fathers were friends. At first Steven and Anthony didn't really talk. Then Steven noticed the attention he received, the attention Anthony didn't ever seem to get, the attention Pepper tried to keep off herself as she stumbled over words. Then it became kind of an enemy of my enemy is my friend thing. Then Anthony and Steven started using their preferred names, (Tony and Steve) that their parents never bothered to introduce them with.

Last was Thor. Natasha (Nat, Tash, and Tasha to Clint, Natasha and Clint and Clint and Natasha to everyone else, even when apart), showed Thor to his classroom. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the way that he didn't meet anyone's eyes or the way that he was always always always tapping some sort of beat. Whatever it was it drew Natasha to him. This is how she became Lady Natasha on occasion, and how he became more than that weird kid, because really, pay attention to who he's being compared too. And they didn't care that he couldn't meet their eyes, not that he didn't want to, but couldn't, because Steve couldn't breathe, Tony had a giant piece of metal in his chest, Bruce wasn't always Bruce, Natasha sometimes couldn't be near men, and Clint lived in an orphanage where he was practically a friend, brother, and father rolled into one.

These were the group that no one called the Avengers but somehow everyone knew them by that name. Really they were just Natasha, Nat, Tash, Tasha, Clint, _Clint_ , Natasha and Clint and Clint and Natasha, Bruce just Bruce even when he actually wasn't, Tony not Anthony, Steve not Steven, and Thor a friend not a weirdo kid who had issues.

* * *

Okay short I know, but I'm hoping soon I'll get back to somewhat of a more normal schedule. Thanks for sticking with me everyone. Remember to tell me what you think. Review, favorite, follow, please, it really does help keep me going. I'm not going to stop writing if you don't, but it definitely encourages me. Plus, I kind of really really want feedback on how this turned out. Okay thanks.

Anyone know where I got the chapter title?


	21. Superheroes

**gfWelcome to chapter 21. This is a really sign heavy chapter, so make sure to check the key thingy I have explaining what things mean.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel, Disney does. BTW I don't own Disney either. I also don't own Semi- Automatic by Twenty- One Pilots or Superheroes by The Script. (Basically the only thing I own are my awesome mismatched socks).**

 **GUEST REVIEWER BELLA: Thank you so much for your review, you're not a Negative Nancy at all. Your comments have really made the issues you mentioned more apparent to me, and I really appreciate it. From now on, I'm going to focusing a bit less on those details and see how it goes. I don't think I did a very good job with that this chapter because it was already mostly finished when I got your review, but thank you so much, and I would love if you reviewed again with helpful comments. It's good constructive criticism.**

Reminders:

"Speaking"

 _Sign Language_

 _"Both"_

 _f-i-n-g-e-r s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g_ (most names aren't done like this because of name signs).

* * *

 _Okay, meet with your partners for the last ten minutes to discuss what each of you are going to do over the break,_ Ms. Davis signed to the class. Clint got up from his seat, moving towards the section of the classroom where Chloe and Jef were sitting.

"So I," Chloe started.

Ms Davis suddenly appeared, _Chloe sign only please_.

 _Sorry Ms. Davis,_ she signed, blushing.

 _So I had an idea for what song we are going to do, there's this really good song called Heroes, and it's really slow so we shouldn't have a problem. Here I have the lyrics already and what each of you have to do,_ Chloe explained.

 _Wait, I thought this was a group project?_ Jef signed, butting in, _What if we don't want to do that song._

 _Well, I already have it picked out, I just thought it could work_ , Chloe signed.

 _Well I had a song too,_ Jef signed _, its really good._

 _C-l-i-n-t, what do you think?_ Chloe suddenly asked.

 _Clint_ , he signed absentmindedly.

 _What?_ Chloe asked.

 _Uh, Clint, it's my name sign_ , he explained.

 _Oh, ok, so what song do you think we should do?_ Jef asked.

 _Um, you said Heroes is slow right?_ Clint asked Chloe.

 _Yes, that's why I thought it would be good._

 _Well if it's too slow, Ms. Davis might take that into consideration when she grades us._

 _Okay, I guess we can do Jef's. What's it called?_ Chloe asked.

 _Semi Automatic by Twenty One Pilots,_ Jef told them.

 _Wait, don't they rap?_ Chloe asked.

 _Yes._

 _Well then we can't do that, we can't sign that fast._

 _I can_ , Clint told them. They looked at him.

 _Well, I can_ , Clint signed.

 _Okay, then let's do Semi Automatic,_ Chloe said with a smile. They continued discussing when to meet up during the break until Clint's watch vibrated, indicating that the bell had rung. Natasha was at his side in an instant.

 _What song is your group doing?_

 _Semi Automatic by Twenty One Pilots. Will you help me?_

 _Yes, but don't worry about that now, we have the entire break._

 _What is your group doing?_

She just smirked and didn't give him an answer.

The entire break was actually pretty short. Two days later Chloe called. He rolled his eyes at his phone, and as always let it ring out. His voice mail was simple, she would quickly get the point. He got a text less than a minute later.

(CA is Chloe, CB is Clint, JD is Jef)

CA~ Hey

It's Chloe. With the project I was wondering if you two wanted to meet up before or after Christmas.

JD~ We have to meet up?

Y?

CA~ Well I just wanted to make sure that we are all in sync.

CB~ whenever's fine by me

JD~I guess before

My family leaves on the 27th

CA~ I leave on the 24th

CB~ the 23rd then

that work?

CA~ Yes

JD~ Ya

Not at my house tho

CA~ Well I'm not allowed to have boys over.

JD~ That's messed up

CA~ Well I'm not so

Clint, can we come over?

CB~ lemme check

ya

but Natasha's gunna be here

and you need a signed note from your parents

from 2-3?

JD~ Works for me

CA~ That's fine

CB~ address is # blank street

Chloe parked outside and sat in her car for a minute. Another car pulled up and Jef stepped out. Chloe got out and joined him.

"Clint's an orphan?" Jef asked her.

"I guess so," she said as she took a step forward and knocked on the door. A woman opened the door.

"Are you Chloe and Jef?" she asked.

"Yes," they answered.

"Can I see your notes?" They showed her their notes and were permitted inside.

"He's out back, just follow this hallway all the way down," she told them. They did as told and reached the small backyard. Their attention was quickly drawn to the group of kids playing, all trying to be the center of one boy's attention, Clint's attention.

"Clint," she called out, before mentally smacking herself, he was deaf, remember? Luckily the red head in their ASL class, Natasha, seemed to have heard her, and got Clint's attention. He said goodbye and went to join them.

" _We cawn go enside,"_ he told them.

"Have either of you _worked on the song_ yet?" Chloe asked. The two boys shared a panicked look.

" _A little bit,"_ Jef said, "It's not perfect, but I have been practicing."

"Ya, I've ban pract'sing, just need to git the time ing down, but I thank I got it," Clint replied.

"Okay cool _let's practice_ then," said Chloe. She got out her phone, tapping the right song. She let Clint hold it, the vibrations flowing through his hand, "We'll _get the timing right before_ we actually start _signing_."

"Okay," Clint agreed easily, "I've luked at some leeric vidos, but Nat tells me tat mossed of tem don't git time ing right at ell." The three of them went through the song, writing down the times each of them started and stopped. Natasha sat on a chair, observing them work.

Soon enough they started signing along with the song. They still had to work out a few things, like how Jef's signs weren't clear, and how Clint forgot a few lines, and that Chloe's signing was closer to Signed English (SE) than ASL. They figured it out though, and it seemed to turn out well. Of course, it wasn't perfect, but it was good. Clint's faster signing definitely gave them an edge.

By the time they were done, they had plenty of leftover time, so Clint took to convincing Natasha to show them her song.

" _C'mon Tash, wheel love it. Pleeeeeease?"_ he begged. She just shook her head.

" _Cawn 'ou at lest tell me what swong yer doing?"_ he asked.

She smiled, " _Nope_."

" _Not feir, we did ows, yer torn,"_ Clint complained. She rolled her eyes, but complied anyways. She got out her phone, bringing up her song, and began to sign, looking directly at Clint.

All her life she has seen  
All the meanest side of me  
They took away the prophet's dream for a profit on the street

Now she's stronger than you know  
A heart of steel starts to grow

Her signs were crisp and concise, conveying the feeling of the song. The sound of the music wasn't heard, but seen. Could she be describing herself?

All his life he's been told  
He'll be nothing when he's old  
All the kicks and all the blows  
He won't ever let it show

'Cause he's stronger than you know  
A heart of steel starts to grow

Clint took in a breath. If he thought she was talking about herself, now he was sure he was wrong. She was signing about herself, but about them.

When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been struggling to make things right  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

They definitely used that pain more than once. Yes, pain had dragged them done on more than one occasion, but they used it. They used it to become Natasha and Clint and Clint and Natasha.

When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been working every day and night  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

All the hurt, all the lies  
All the tears that they cry  
When the moment is just right  
You see fire in their eyes

They both knew that they both had that animalistic glint in their eyes, that fire that had been placed there by their experiences. Their abuse (his physical and mental, hers sexual and now physical).

'Cause he's stronger than you know  
A heart of steel starts to grow

When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been struggling to make things right  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power

Clint always wanted to fly, fly away from his Dad, from his Mom, even from Barney. Natasha helped him learn.

When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been working every day and night  
That's how a superhero learns to fly

(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)

(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)

(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

She's got lions in her heart  
A fire in her soul  
He's got a beast in his belly  
That's so hard to control  
'Cause they've taken too much hits  
Taking blow by blow  
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode

She's got lions in her heart  
A fire in her soul  
He's got a beast in his belly  
That's so hard to control  
'Cause they've taken too much hits  
Taking blow by blow  
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode, explode, explode, explode

Only they knew about this fear that each other had. Natasha feared those lions, that fire, she feared that one day she would explode and harm everyone she loved. She says love is for children, and even if she's not one mentally, she still is the age of one. Clint feared that beast, the beast that his dad had, that Barney had, the one he knew he had. He knew the percentages, the chances, the possibility, the likely possibility, that he would one day be exactly like them. He feared that day. Natasha said that day he feared would never come. Clint said that day she feared would never come. They just had to trust each other in the meantime.

When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been struggling to make things right  
That's how a superhero learns to fly

(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been working every day and night  
That's how a superhero learns to fly

(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

(Power, power, power, power, power)  
Oh, yeah...  
(Power, power, power, power, power)

(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)

Ooh, yeah  
Whoa

(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)

When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been struggling to make things right  
That's how a superhero learns to fly

Both Natasha and Clint were sprung out of their thoughts as Chloe and Jef congratulated her, commenting on how good it was. She smiled and thanked them. Only Clint saw the pain in her eyes, covered by a small glint of hope.

* * *

 **I got this idea from my friend who's in ASL 3, I got to videotape for her. (In this story they are presenting their songs in class not on video). This is a project they apparently do every year around winter break, and at open house they played her video and I'm really proud of her because she chose a really fast paced song (not Semi- Automatic, but still), and has only been signing for three years (Which may seem like a while, but it's a high school class).**

 **As always, thanks for reading and I love feedback, so please review. and favorite. and follow. You get the idea.**

 **I've also started a new series of one shots for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. It focuses around the idea that Teddy Lupin is genderfluid. It's called Variable. It would be awesome if you checked it out.**

 **Last thing, I'm still in school and have finals, and I'm craving summer, so what is your favorite part about summer?**


	22. A Very Norse Christmas

**Sorry its been awhile everyone, I hope you enjoy Chapter 22, A Very Norse Christmas. Thanks for everyone's support and all the Norse Christmas facts that Rednorth explained to me forever ago, I hope it's decently accurate, I tried.**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned Marvel I wouldn't be writing this. I don't even own the sock company Tony got his socks from.**

 **Reminders:**

 **"Speaking"**

 ** _Sign Language_**

 ** _"Both"_**

 ** _f-i-n-g-e-r s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g_ (most names aren't done like this because of name signs).**

* * *

Clint woke to someone jumping on him. He flinched back, pressing himself up against the backboard of his bed, as far away as the offending object as possible. Kyan looked up at him apologetically.

 _Sorry_ , he signed. Clint nodded, accepting the apology, slowly getting his breathing back in check.

 _What are you doing up at,_ he checked the clock, which face read nine am, _never mind._

"… … l(?)," he teased him, sticking his tongue out.

" _Didn't catch that,"_ Clint told the young boy.

 _You L-A-Z -Y,_ he signed.

 _Lazy_ , he demonstrated _, "Wait, why am I teaching you how to tease me."_

"Cause _I'm awesome_!" he exclaimed, excited.

"So why awe ou on my bped?" Clint asked.

"Well _you_ s(?) Thor was come(?) … 'cause he w(?) … _you_ and _Natasha_ … … it's _Christmas_ _for_ _him_ , w(?) is (?)tally _not fair I want Christmas_ … day _early_ , … … …. _your_ _friends_ … g(?) to … … s(?) and your _phone_ (?)s on … (?)side _table_ , … under … pill(?) … … m(?) … _when_ _your_ al(arm?) _went off_ the (?)ation _wouldn't_ _wake_ _you_ s(?) _I woke you_ ," Kyan explained.

"Okay bput what wowre ou doying in my rom in the fowst placsse?" Clint asked.

Kyan's face fell, _"I was lonely_." Clint frowned, he knew it wasn't just physically being alone; it was the feeling of being alone. He made a note to spend more time with Kyan. Luckily, Kyan's face quickly lit up again and he began to speak, "But … s(?) you(?) up you … to _play_ … me."

Clint flopped back onto his bed, "Fine." He didn't hear Kyan's excited cheer, but he felt the bed jolt as he jumped up and fell back down. Then a small hand was pulling at his arm to get up. Clint let him be partially pulled partially dragged out of his bed before getting up.

"… …, we(?) (?)g … …," Kyan said as they raced down the stairs.

"Kean, I con't read or lipbs win o're not looooking my waye," he reminded the boy.

 _Sorry, we color?_ The boy asked.

" _Why not?"_ Clint responded with a grin, so color they did.

When they reached the main room for the boys to play in inside, they were greeting with the laughing faces of three others. The Home had an Xbox, and three of the boys were obviously enjoying it. Kyan ignored them and sat at the table, grabbing paper and colored pencils to color. The boy really was a good artist; it was too bad they had such crappy art supplies. The colored pencils had many missing and were practically stubs. They sat and colored. Throughout the next half hour, more and more of the boys showed up until Clint was sure they were all there. A few more of the boys joined Kyan and himself, coloring as well. Their pictures ranged from scribbles to intricately detailed, but no one poked fun at anyone else. It was a slow morning, but nice none the less. Of course, the scene was broken by all the boys looking up to stare at something that wasn't in the room.

" _Someone_ 's … the _door_ ," Kyan explained, before continuing to draw. Clint got up, knowing that it must be one of his friends here to pick him up and take him to Thor's where they would be celebrating Christmas. Much to his surprise, Thor stood at the door dressed as Santa Claus. He began to say something, but with Santa's beard, he was hopelessly lost.

"Um, Thoar? _Beard_ ," Clint spoke. He quickly dropped his bag, and yep, that was a toy sack, and reached to pull down the beard, also lifting his hands to sign.

" _Merry Christmas_ ," he greeted Clint, "I … _toys for the kids_." He then strode in towards the main room, followed by Bruce and Steve.

 _Where's Tasha and Tony?_ he asked, this time only in sign as he was frankly getting tired of vocalizing, he had never been very fond of it.

" _They_ 're … to _meet us at Thor's_ ," Steve said shrugging.

 _Okay_ , he responded, following the three of them to the main room.

Inside, Thor had gathered the boys and was handing out presents. Clint smiled as Thor handed Kyan a brand new pack of colored pencils. Most of the toys were fairly generic, seeing as he really didn't know any of the kids personally, but nonetheless Clint greatly appreciated the sentiment. He eventually finished, Clint making sure the kids said thank you, as Clint himself signed it empathetically, the one sign holding a great amount of emotion and sincerity behind it. Thor just gave him a big smile back and Clint rushed to grab his backpack before saying bye and heading out the door.

They arrived at Thor's after Tony and Natasha who had already let themselves in. The kitchen smelled good, the turkey already cooking. Clint greeted Natasha with a kiss and a Merry Christmas, before following the rest of the group into the living room. Tony tugged Bruce into his lap who let out a small squeak. Steve sat on the couch, Nat sitting next to him and pressing her feet against Steve while leaning against Clint who sat on her other side. Thor opted for the no contact position, taking off his shoes and sitting Indian style on a chair. They chatted about nothing for a bit, soaking in each other's company, and at one point had a debate about whose socks were the best, (Tony's turtle socks ended being declared winner, with Steve's festive Christmas trees a close second). All in all, it was a nice familiar scene and they all enjoyed it.

Clint stared at the offending object on his place and slowly set his silverware down so his hands were free to sign.

 _You want me to eat eel_? He questioned slightly repulsed. Tony seemed to snicker, which Clint just responded too with a glare. Natasha hand tapped twice on the table at the edge of his view and he turned to look at her.

 _It's really not that bad, she told him, It doesn't taste fishy or anything, and the eel sauce is great._

He wasn't comforted, _You want me to eat eel_ , he signed slowly _, that has eel sauce on it? What even is eel sauce? Eel spit?*_

At this point both Natasha and Bruce were snickering, Thor and Steve being kind enough to join in. He kind of felt bad for not eating it, feeling like he was disrespecting Thor's heritage and life style. He looked back at his plate, hesitating, maybe he could just take one bite?

The eel stared back at him and _, Ya, no, I think my eel just blinked_ , Clint signed, now fairly terrified, _Are you sure it isn't alive_? He asked Thor. At this point even Thor was struggling not to laugh.

" _My friend_ , I (b?)rom(?)… _eel_ is … _dead_ ," Thor responded. Natasha just took his eel and transferred it to her plate, switching it with hers.

 _There, now you get a non-blink-y eel_ , she told him, seeing as he now had part of the body. Still he hesitated, not quite willing to pick up his fork. Nat's hand appeared in view again he turned to face her.

 _Steve's talking_ , she told him and he turned to face him. His friends were picking up sign rather quick, but they could often be forgetful when it came to catching his attention.

 _Sorry_ , Steve signed quickly and then continued _, You've had fish before, right_?

 _Yes_ , Clint signed, granted it was only once when he had been fostered by this one couple who had decided to try salmon.

" _Did you like it?"_ Steve asked.

 _Well ya._

"So _how is eel any different_?"

 _Well, because_ , he faltered, _fine_ , he signed as he huffed out a sigh dramatically. He slowly took a bite of eel, slowly tasting it. It wasn't awful, actually it was quite good. Ugh, his friends would never let him live this down.

A hand fluttered in his vision and he turned his head to face Thor.

"Well?" he was prompted.

 _Its good_ , he signed grudgingly and continued to his eel, choosing to ignore the fact that Tony was laughing at him.

Dinner was eventually over and people filed into bedrooms. Thor took his own room and Tony and Bruce took one of the guest rooms, leaving the other three to figure out who would take the last guest room.

 _Tasha_? Clint asked with a smile.

 _No, no not tonight_ , she answered with a rough shake of her head _, I'll take the couch_.

 _Okay_ , he replied, shrugging his shoulders, he had expected as much. He turned to Steve.

" _I'm okay_ _sharing the bed_ , … _up to you_ ," Steve said, also with a shrug.

Clint hesitated before responding _, ya okay, just, try not to touch me? Especially my arms or head_? He requested.

"I (?)an do t(?)," Steve said with a smile.

 _Thanks_ , he replied as they headed down the hallway. They entered the guest bedroom flopping down onto the bed.

"… … … … … … … up the c(?)?" Steve asked as he turned to face him.

 _Can you repeat that?_ Clint asked

" _What_ _time_ _do we_ n(?) (?)oo _pick up_ … c(?)?" he asked again.

 _Can you fingerspell the last word_? Clint requested.

 _C-A-K-E_ , Steve signed. Clint then showed him the sign.

 _I think the store opens at 10_ , Clint replied. _Though you might want to ch-_

Steve's head went up in what Clint liked to call 'I hear something that's not in this room so I'm going to look up and in that direction because that is oh so effective.' Almost everyone did it; it was fairly amusing at times.

"Wat?" Clint asked.

"What?" Steve replied in kind.

 _You hea-_ Steve looked away again.

"Seve!" Clint exclaimed, slightly frustrated, trying to get his attention back.

"Sorry," he muttered with a shake of his head.

 _What do you hear_? He asked. Steve looked puzzled for a second. _Your head went up, you heard something,_ Clint explained.

"…, its … _Bruce and Tony forgetting_ t(?) hat th(?)… _other people in this house_ _who do not wanted to be hearing what they get up_ to … … s(?) …," he explained slightly annoyed.

Clint frowned, _Are they being loud?_ he asked. Steve looked at him strangely, but then again when did Clint ever really ask about sound levels? So Clint rephrased his question.

 _Are they being loud enough that Natasha would be able to hear them?_

" _I doubt it, why? Would that trigger her_?" Steve asked suddenly concerned.

 _Ya, maybe,_ he responded _, I'm just going to go check on her_.

" _I'll tell them_ … … it _down_ ," Steve said as they both got up from the bed. Clint quickly left the room and walked the short distance to the living room, smiling at the sight that greeted him. Natasha was fast asleep, curled up on the couch. He turned to leave, a smile on his lips.

He walked back to his room, passing Tony and Bruce's room where Steve seemed to be verbally berating them. He snickered, but shot them a thumbs up. Soon after, Steve returned.

"She okay?"

 _Ya, she's asleep._

" _Good_ , _now_ … … … _cake down_ , _do we have_ … (?)ream(?)?" Steve asked.

 _S-T-R-E-A-M-E-R-S, streamers?_ He asked to confirm. Steve nodded, and they continued to plan Bruce and Thor's party before heading to bed themselves.

* * *

 ***When I told my mom I had tried eel with eel sauce (which is amazing btw) she literally asked if it was eel spit, so ya.**

 **As always, thanks for all of your support and reviews make me super happy. Also if you every wanna PM me about anything go ahead. Oh, and Harry Potter fans, check out my new story Variable.**

 **Thanks everyone have an awesome day.**


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